The Whole Works of William Browne of Tavistock ... Now first collected and edited, with a memoir of the poet, and notes, by W. Carew Hazlitt, of the Inner Temple |
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 | The Whole Works of William Browne |  |
Now both intwinde, because no conquest won,
Yet either ruinde, Philocel begun
To arme his Loue for death: a roabe vnfit
Till Hymens saffron'd weed had vsher'd it.
My fairest Cælia! come; let thou and I,
That long haue learn'd to loue, now learne to dye;
It is a lesson hard if we discerne it,
Yet none is borne so soone as bound to learne it.
Vnpartiall Fate layes ope the Booke to vs,
And let[s] vs con it still imbracing thus;
We may it perfect haue, and goe before
Those that haue longer time to read it o're;
And we had need begin and not delay,
For 'tis our turne to read it first to day.
Helpe when I misse, and when thou art in doubt
Ile be thy prompter, and will helpe thee out.
But see how much I erre: vaine Metaphor
And elocution Destinies abhorre.
Could death be staid with words, or won with teares,
Or mou'd with beauty, or with vnripe yeeres,
Sure thou could'st doe't; this Rose, this Sun-like eye
Should not so soone be quell'd, so quickly dye.
But we must dye, my Loue; not thou alone,
Nor onely I, but both; and yet but one.
Nor let vs grieue; for we are marryed thus,
And haue by death what life denied vs.
It is a comfort from him more then due;
“Death seuers many, but he couples few.
Life is a Flood that keepes vs from our blisse,
The Ferriman to waft vs thither, is
Death, and none else; the sooner we get o're
Should we not thanke the Ferriman the more?
Others intreat him for a passage hence,
And groane beneath their griefes and impotence,
Yet (mercilesse) he lets those longer stay,
And sooner takes the happy man away.
Some little happinesse haue thou and I,
Since we shall dye before we wish to dye.
Should we here longer liue, and haue our dayes
As full in number as the most of these,
And in them meet all pleasures may betide,
We gladly might haue liu'd and patient dyde.
When now our fewer yeeres made long by cares
(That without age can snow downe siluer haires)
Make all affirme (which doe our griefes discry)
We patiently did liue, and gladly dye.
The difference (my Loue) that doth appeare
Betwixt our Fates and theirs that see vs here,
Is onely this: the high-all knowing powre
Conceales from them, but tels vs our last houre.
For which to Heauen we far-farre more are bound,
Since in the houre of death we may be found
(By its prescience) ready for the hand
That shall conduct vs to the Holy-land.
When those, from whom that houre conceal'd is, may
Euen in their height of Sinne be tane away.
Besides, to vs Iustice a friend is knowne,
Which neither lets vs dye nor liue alone.
That we are forc'd to it cannot be held;
“Who feares not Death, denies to be compell'd.”
Yet either ruinde, Philocel begun
To arme his Loue for death: a roabe vnfit
Till Hymens saffron'd weed had vsher'd it.
My fairest Cælia! come; let thou and I,
That long haue learn'd to loue, now learne to dye;
It is a lesson hard if we discerne it,
Yet none is borne so soone as bound to learne it.
Vnpartiall Fate layes ope the Booke to vs,
And let[s] vs con it still imbracing thus;
We may it perfect haue, and goe before
Those that haue longer time to read it o're;
And we had need begin and not delay,
For 'tis our turne to read it first to day.
Helpe when I misse, and when thou art in doubt
Ile be thy prompter, and will helpe thee out.
But see how much I erre: vaine Metaphor
And elocution Destinies abhorre.
Could death be staid with words, or won with teares,
Or mou'd with beauty, or with vnripe yeeres,
Sure thou could'st doe't; this Rose, this Sun-like eye
Should not so soone be quell'd, so quickly dye.
115
Nor onely I, but both; and yet but one.
Nor let vs grieue; for we are marryed thus,
And haue by death what life denied vs.
It is a comfort from him more then due;
“Death seuers many, but he couples few.
Life is a Flood that keepes vs from our blisse,
The Ferriman to waft vs thither, is
Death, and none else; the sooner we get o're
Should we not thanke the Ferriman the more?
Others intreat him for a passage hence,
And groane beneath their griefes and impotence,
Yet (mercilesse) he lets those longer stay,
And sooner takes the happy man away.
Some little happinesse haue thou and I,
Since we shall dye before we wish to dye.
Should we here longer liue, and haue our dayes
As full in number as the most of these,
And in them meet all pleasures may betide,
We gladly might haue liu'd and patient dyde.
When now our fewer yeeres made long by cares
(That without age can snow downe siluer haires)
Make all affirme (which doe our griefes discry)
We patiently did liue, and gladly dye.
The difference (my Loue) that doth appeare
Betwixt our Fates and theirs that see vs here,
Is onely this: the high-all knowing powre
Conceales from them, but tels vs our last houre.
For which to Heauen we far-farre more are bound,
Since in the houre of death we may be found
(By its prescience) ready for the hand
That shall conduct vs to the Holy-land.
When those, from whom that houre conceal'd is, may
Euen in their height of Sinne be tane away.
Besides, to vs Iustice a friend is knowne,
Which neither lets vs dye nor liue alone.
116
“Who feares not Death, denies to be compell'd.”
| The Whole Works of William Browne | |