 | The Poems and Sonnets of Henry Constable |  |
lxix
OF THE END AND DEATH OF HIS LOVE.
lxx
[Much sorrow in it selfe my love doth move]
Much sorrow in it selfe my love doth move;
More my dispaire, to love a hopelesse blisse;
My folly most, to love whom sure to misse.
Oh, helpe me but this last greefe to remove;
More my dispaire, to love a hopelesse blisse;
My folly most, to love whom sure to misse.
Oh, helpe me but this last greefe to remove;
All paines, if you commaund, it joy shall prove,
And wisedome to seeke joye; then say but this:
Because my pleasure in thy torment is,
I doe commaund thee without hope to love.
And wisedome to seeke joye; then say but this:
Because my pleasure in thy torment is,
I doe commaund thee without hope to love.
So when this thought my sorrow shall augment,
That mine owne folly did procure my paine,
Then shall I say, to give my selfe content:
Obedience onely made me love in vaine;
It was your will, and not my want of wit;
I have the paine; beare you the blame of it.
That mine owne folly did procure my paine,
Then shall I say, to give my selfe content:
Obedience onely made me love in vaine;
It was your will, and not my want of wit;
I have the paine; beare you the blame of it.
lxxi
[Needes must I leave, and yet needes must I love]
Needes must I leave, and yet needes must I love,
In vaine my wit doth tell in verse my woe;
Dispaire in me, Disdaine in thee dooth shoe
How by my wit I doe my folly prove.
In vaine my wit doth tell in verse my woe;
Dispaire in me, Disdaine in thee dooth shoe
How by my wit I doe my folly prove.
All this my hart from love can never move;
Love is not in my hart; no, Lady, no;
My hart is love it selfe; till I foregoe
My hart, I never can my love remove.
Love is not in my hart; no, Lady, no;
My hart is love it selfe; till I foregoe
My hart, I never can my love remove.
How can I then leave love? I doe intend
Not to crave grace, but yet to wish it still;
Not to prayse thee, but beauty to commend;
And so by beauty's praise, praise thee I will.
For as my hart is love, love not in mee;
So beauty thou, beauty is not in thee.
Not to crave grace, but yet to wish it still;
Not to prayse thee, but beauty to commend;
And so by beauty's praise, praise thee I will.
For as my hart is love, love not in mee;
So beauty thou, beauty is not in thee.
lxxii
[My Reason, absent, did mine eyes require]
My Reason, absent, did mine eyes require
To watch and ward, and such foes to descrie
As they should, neere my hart approaching, spie.
But traitor eyes my hart's death did conspire;
To watch and ward, and such foes to descrie
As they should, neere my hart approaching, spie.
But traitor eyes my hart's death did conspire;
(Corrupted with Hope's gyfts) let in Desire
To burne my hart, and sought no remedy,
Though store of water were in eyther eye
Which, well imployde, might wel have quencht the fire.
To burne my hart, and sought no remedy,
Though store of water were in eyther eye
Which, well imployde, might wel have quencht the fire.
Reason returned, Love and Fortune made
Judges, to judge mine eyes to punishment:
Fortune, sith they by sight my hart betraid,
From wished sight adjudg'd them banishment;
Love, sith by fire murdred my hart was found,
Adjudged them in teares for to be drownd.
Judges, to judge mine eyes to punishment:
Fortune, sith they by sight my hart betraid,
From wished sight adjudg'd them banishment;
Love, sith by fire murdred my hart was found,
Adjudged them in teares for to be drownd.
lxxiii
[Each day new proofes of newe dispaire I finde]
Each day new proofes of newe dispaire I finde,
That is, newe deathes; no marvell then though I
Make exile my last helpe, to th' end mine eye
Should not behold the death to me assignd.
That is, newe deathes; no marvell then though I
Make exile my last helpe, to th' end mine eye
Should not behold the death to me assignd.
Not that from death absence might save my minde,
But that it might take death more patiently;
Like him the which, by Judge condemnd to die,
To suffer with more ease his eyes doth blind.
But that it might take death more patiently;
Like him the which, by Judge condemnd to die,
To suffer with more ease his eyes doth blind.
Your lippes (in scarlet clad) my Judges be,
Pronouncing sentence of eternall No;
Dispaire, the hangman that tormenteth me;
The death I suffer is the life I have;
For onely life doth make me die in woe,
And onely death I for my pardon crave.
Pronouncing sentence of eternall No;
Dispaire, the hangman that tormenteth me;
The death I suffer is the life I have;
For onely life doth make me die in woe,
And onely death I for my pardon crave.
lxxiv
[Mine eye with all the deadly sinnes is fraught]
Mine eye with all the deadly sinnes is fraught:I.
First proud, sith it presum'd to looke so hie,A watchman being made, stoode gazing by;
II.
And idle, tooke no heede till I was caught;III.
And envious, beares envie that by thoughtShould in his absence be to her so nie.
To kill my hart, mine eye let in her eye,
IV.
And so consent gave to a murther wrought;V.
And covetous, it never would removeFrom her faire haire, gold so doth please his sight;
VI.
Vnchast, a baude betweene my hart and love;VII.
A glutton eye, with teares drunke every night.These sinnes procured have a Goddesse' ire,
Wherfore my hart is damnd in Love's sweet fire.
lxxv
[If true love might true love's reward obtaine]
If true love might true love's reward obtaine,
Dumbe wonder onely might speake of my joy;
But too much worth hath made thee too much coy,
And told me long agoe I sigh'd in vaine.
Dumbe wonder onely might speake of my joy;
But too much worth hath made thee too much coy,
And told me long agoe I sigh'd in vaine.
Not then vaine hope of undeserved gaine
Hath made me paint in verses mine annoy,
But for thy pleasure, that thou might'st enjoy
Thy beauty's praise, in glasses of my paine.
Hath made me paint in verses mine annoy,
But for thy pleasure, that thou might'st enjoy
Thy beauty's praise, in glasses of my paine.
See then thy selfe (though me thou wilt not heare),
By looking on my verse: for paine in verse,
Love doth in paine, beautie in love, appeare.
So, if thou wouldst my verses' meaning see,
Expound them thus, when I my love rehearse:
None loves like him; that is, None faire like mee.
By looking on my verse: for paine in verse,
Love doth in paine, beautie in love, appeare.
So, if thou wouldst my verses' meaning see,
Expound them thus, when I my love rehearse:
None loves like him; that is, None faire like mee.
lxxvi
[Somtimes in verse I praisd, somtime I sigh'd]
Somtimes in verse I praisd, somtime I sigh'd,
No more shal pen with love and beauty mell,
But to my hart alone my hart shall tell
How unseene flames doe burne it day and night;
No more shal pen with love and beauty mell,
But to my hart alone my hart shall tell
How unseene flames doe burne it day and night;
Lest flames give light, light bring my love to sight,
And my love prove my follie to excell.
Wherefore my love burnes like the fire of hell,
Wherein is fire, and yet there is no light.
And my love prove my follie to excell.
Wherefore my love burnes like the fire of hell,
Wherein is fire, and yet there is no light.
For if one never lov'd like mee, then why
Skillesse blames hee the thing hee doth not know?
And hee that so hath lov'd should favour show,
For hee hath been a foole as well as I;
Thus shall hence-forth more pain more folly have,
And folly past may justly pardon crave.
Skillesse blames hee the thing hee doth not know?
And hee that so hath lov'd should favour show,
For hee hath been a foole as well as I;
Thus shall hence-forth more pain more folly have,
And folly past may justly pardon crave.
| The Poems and Sonnets of Henry Constable | |