Small poems of Divers sorts :: :: University of Virginia Library

Having resolv'd in Numbers great and high
To sing our Brutus Flight from Italie;
How in this Island he arriv'd, and fought
Till he it under his Subjection brought;
Here reign'd some years in peace, & when he di'de
To his three Sons did all the whole divide:
And being prepar'd to write, a sudden noise
Of a Coach did occasion me to rise,
Conjecturing whom it might be that did come,
Till a new day approch'd our Dining-room.
She was no sooner entred in the Place,
With her fair hand dispers'd Night from her face
By taking off her mask, and with a free
Well-pleasing Garbe look'd on the Companie,
(My eies being all the while fix'd on her face,
Astonish'd at her beauty, and her grace)

But I both sigh'd and trembled; For I saw
The winged Boy did follow her in awe,
And was become her Champion, to subject
All mankind at her feet that dare reflect
Rash looks on her. Alas! had I espide
The fatal God, ere I her Beauties eyde,
The sight of his resistless bow had soon
(With down cast eies) made me to leave the room.
To him she turning scornfully, did finde
No shaft in's hand, I had it in my minde,
And said; Why Truant, do you suffer thus
A rash presumptuous youth to gaze on us?
He humbly gave this answer; Madam, you
May be appeas'd, he soon his fault will rue;
When he came hither first, he did intend
A mighty Epick Poem to have pen'd;
But now that resolution will despise,
And court your favours in soft Elegies:
Before he had withdrawn his eies he found
His yeilding heart assaulted with a wound.
This said, a pretty, and disdainful look
She cast upon me, and her leave then took
Of those she came to visit, leaving me
Possest with sad thoughts of my Miserie.
Away (Great Mars) sigh'd I, when she was gone,
And welcome (Gentle Venus) with thy Son;
The horrid wars that I did mean to write
(In stately numbers) of the Trojan Knight,
I must convert to softer Layes, and prove
All ways t'incline her noble heart to Love.

2. To my Mistress.

Fair glory of your Sex! when you have read
My name subscrib'd, and find who's conquered,
Blame not myweakness; know your eies are strong,
And can do what they will, or right or wrong.
I did not look to love, onely to see,
And was enthral'd when I least thought to be.
Be kind; or (if you needs will tyrannize)
Ile be your Martyr, burn me with your eies.
But let me live; For th'Art is more profound,
To save a dying Man, then kill a Sound.

3. To my Mrs. before Mr. Mayes Lucan that I sent her.

Pardon me Lady, that I dare invent
Lines neither worth your view, not my intent.
Nero did murther Lucan, but I doe
Expect a life, and not a death from you:
With Piso and the learned Seneca
He treason against Cæsar did assay;
Yet's Emperour gave him leave to choose by what
Means he would undergo the Law of Fate.
I never did conceive a thought that you
Might think offence, unless affection true;
And that should not your indignation move:
The Gods will give us leave their Heaven to love.
He lives unto Report, and so shall I
(If slain) demonstrate your great Cruelty.

You are my Empress; under your fair hand
Send me what Destiny you will command.
My Fate is what you please to have it: I
Live by your kindness, or your coyness dye.

4. [Lady, in your applause verse goes]

Lady, in your applause verse goes
As slow and dull as heavy prose;
And your known worthes (would you submit
Your self a subject unto Wit)
Would blunt invention, and (ore'come
With strong Amaze) make Poets dumbe.
By what means then shall I declare
My thoughts at height, or what you are?
A world of Paper would but be
My love in an Epitome:
Fair Lady, therefore do not look
For my affection in a book:
Search my life through, and if you find
Not what I can do, be unkind.

5. [Petrarch, for the neat Sonnets he did frame]

Petrarch, for the neat Sonnets he did frame
In Laura's praise, obtain'd a Poets Name:
I of my Mistress write in verse, and show it,
And yet I do profess I am no Poet.
They feign, but I speak truth; what they invent
(Out of long study) for a Complement,
In me is earnest; Those rich words that they
Enforce upon some beauties, I can lay
With reverence on you whom I adore,
And Times to come may as a Saint implore;

Then unto all may you propitious be,
I wish to heaven you now were so to me.
Believe, because these are unsmooth, my wit
Dul'd with amazement, and my hand unfit
To hold a pen so steddy as to write,
Lest some Offence should frustrate my delight.
Your Beauty is my wonder: That you should
Prove merciless, my fear: but my most bold,
And happiest earthly wish is, That you may
With kindness save whom else your beauties slay.

6. [Lady I love, and (if you can]

Lady I love, and (if you can
Believe there is a faith in man)
No one can think a Mistress fitter,
Nor any love a Mistris better.
When I do look on you, I scorn
The rosie blushes of the morn;
When I do hear you speak, I know
No musick can so sweetly go;
When I at first your lips did touch,
I thought Jove never met with such;
I tasted Odours in your breath
Able to win a Soul from death;
All things that have been by you, smell
So fragrant after, and so well,
That Flora may be banished,
And you elected in her stead.
My sences being yours, make all
My future days one Festival:

And comfort me who now am sad,
Least losing Senses I grow mad.

7. [Now after tedious weeks of being mute]

Now after tedious weeks of being mute,
The Mistress of my life I do salute.
As it is in your power to make each line
Of Poesie I write to you, divine;
(For if you kindly smile on them, you give
Ability enough to make them live)
So is it in your power (if you would please
To speak those words) to raise me unto ease;
For unto me, Enceladus doth lye
In flakes of Snow, and I in Fiers dye.
Do not believe I counterfeit, who think
Verses in your praise would transcolour Inke;
And your Glass an Elizium, where one may
Behold your Shadow ere your dying day;
And that reflection I had rather view
Then all the beauties in the world but you.
Had I your Picture reasonably wrought,
No Lady like it should command my thought;
Pigmalion-like I would adore't, until
You did prove kind, or me my griefes did kill.
Think not I do dissemble; For who can
Look on your face unmov'd, that is a man?
Who ist'hath heard your voice, but he will say
Your Tongue can charm all hearers to obey?
And who hath touch'd your lips, but like unto
A Lethe-drinker, forgets all save you?

But I am extasied! you are above
My best expressions though I am in love.

8. [When I look on your Ribband-knots, I find]

When I look on your Ribband-knots, I find
That my rash gazing eies have thral'd my mind:
For they become you so exceeding well,
That they have tide my toung, I cannot tell.
When I perceive the wanton Windes to play
With your unequal'd hair, amaz'd I stay,
And bless their happiness; that they can move
Those amorous tresses and not fall in love.
When you into Hide Parke do go, all there
To follow the race-riders do forbear,
And all of them unanimously approch,
And (as if waiters) do attend your Coach;
That your fair eys may shine on them, whose light
Doth set their hearts on fier at the sight;
And force vows from them, that for your dear sake
Of greatest toils they greatest joys would make.
But what do I do then! I nothing can;
Your beauties make a Statue of a Man.
I cannot look and talke to you like some;
Lady! your matchless Beauties strike me dumbe.
But when I am retired, and alone,
My resolutions then do yeild to none;
Regard, reward my earnest love, and so
Raise me to heights of joy from depths of wo.

9. [Lady, from Cornwall unto you I writ]

Lady, from Cornwall unto you I writ,
But my hard Fates kept you from seeing it.

How glad had I been if that you had known
That there I was yours much more then mine own!
Each wind that blew I lov'd, because I thought
The sound thereof might to your ears be brought;
Each Showre that came I wish'd of gold, and that
Jove-like I fell into my Danae's lap:
Each star I saw put me in minde of thee;
But th'art too fair a little star to be.
I went to Sea, and when I there was come,
I thought of him that to his Hero swom,
And wish't so you did love as she did him,
That like Leander I to you might swim.
But now I am return'd again, be you
As kind to me as you have found me true.

10. [Awake my Muse, put on thy best attire]

Awake my Muse, put on thy best attire
To sing her Beauty, and my raging fire:
Make all the world know, (since she will not know)
That she is much to blame to use me so.
Sweet, cruel, fair one! (unto all of these
You may reply causes of my unease)
For you are sweet as flowry May's west wind;
Why should so sweet a Creature be unkinde?
And you are fair, and fair, and sweet must be,
The reason I endure your Cruelty.
Each Statue I see makes me my Case thus mone;
It hath a Body, you an heart of stone.
I fain would die, but thinking I must come
To be a wanderer in Elizium,

I do destroy that infant-thought; for there
No Soul's so pure as is your body here.
Each night my troubled thoughts keep sleep away;
That time's to me as busie as the day:
But you that are with never a care opprest,
Enamour the night Deities in your rest;
Old Somnus fears his wand may do some ill,
And therefore charms your eies with kisses still.
O that I knew the way whereby to move
My sweet and cruel fair One unto love!
Will sighing do it? O you Gods of wind!
Lend me your breathes that I may sigh her kind:
Will tears prevail? O that my eies would then
Melt out themselves into an Ocean!
Or may Entreaties win upon her sense?
Assist me all you Powers of eloquence;
Pity my miseries which are grown so high,
That you must pity them, or I shall die:
And be not henceforth harsh; That I may finde
My sweet and fair One like a Goddess kinde.

11. [Fair Mistress, though my fate is so adverse]

Fair Mistress, though my fate is so adverse,
That I could rather weep then sing in verse;
Yet one or two I'le force my Muse to write,
And you with your own Cruelty delight.
Me-thoughts when last I heard the Nightingal,
She did not mention her own woes at all;
But every note that past my listning ear
Did make me my own misery to hear:

It was a change worthy her skill, for she
Will sing the saddest things, and therefore me.
Pity a man in Hell, for there I am,
I could not else live so amidst my flame;
And make my joyes with all my sufferings even;
But two kind words, and I shall be in Heaven.

12. [Dear Lady, from your eies there came]

Dear Lady, from your eies there came
A lightning did my heart inflame,
And set it all on burning so,
That forth the fire will never go.
Be merciful, for I remain,
Till you be kind, in endless pain;
And (machless fair One) deign to know
That pity should with beauty goe;
That comely bodies should include
Mindes in them equally as good.
I will not doubt you until I
Have reason from your Crueltie.
Since we deformed bodies finde
To be the Emblems of the minde;
Why should not I pursue that art,
And think one fair hath such an heart?
Confirm Philosophie, which you
By being merciful may do:
And unto the eternal praise
Of your rich Beauty I will raise
A fame so high, that times to come
Of your deare name shall ne're be dumbe;

So you with Rosalinde shall be
Eterniz'd unto Memorie,
With Stella live; names known as well
As Colin Clout, and Astrophel.
As kindness in a Lady can
Preserve in life a dying man;
So verses (after she is dead)
Report will of her spread.
Return affection, and we then
Shall live though die, and live agen.

13. [I have mine eyes and love: for who]

I have mine eyes and love: for who
Hath eyes to see and doth not so?
Who can behold a lovely face,
Both full of beauty and of grace;
See pretty lips, and glorious eyes,
And not be chang'd though ne're so wise?
Rich Cherry-cheeks, and browes Divine,
And not desire would she were mine?
I have a Lady lately seen
Far perfecter then beauties Queen;
Diana's vertues make her stai'd,
And Venus forme a lovely Maid;
Surely two Goddesses have strove
To make a wonder of my Love:
No Beauty Venus lets her want;
And Dian hath made her a Saint.
To pray to Saints many deny,
And censure for idolatry;

But none of them will say I erre
If I with prayers petition her.
Deign therefore virtuous, beauteous Fair,
(You that are more then others are
For beauty whom all wonder at,
And for your vertues emulate)
Pity my heart by you enflam'd;
For cruelty be not defam'd:
Nor joy to see my miseries rage,
Which your tongue onely can asswage;
But a true service entertain,
Rewarding it with love again.

14. Before a little Book of my own that I sent her.

Lady, I do not give this Book alone,
But with't my heart, which you have made your own:
Censure my verses as you please; but be
Kind to my heart, lest you do ruine me.
I made these little Poems, and (if you
Vouchsafe your love to me) you make me too.
Be kind as you are fair, I wish no other;
So make a doubtful man an happy Lover.

15. [Be kind (blind Boy) and let not her alone]

Be kind (blind Boy) and let not her alone;
Tis tyranny in thee to shoot at one.
Me thou hast wounded, she untouch'd remains;
Slights all my Sighs, and credits not my pains.

If th'hast an Arrow (though but one) behind
Strike her, and make us both be of one mind.
Thou God of Love born in an happy hour
In some fresh Garden, in some flowry Bower,
I, by thy wings fill'd with the sighes of thy
Fast-fetter'd Subjects, by thy Quiver, and by
Thy fatal Bow, by Venus drawn along
Olympus Star-pav'd Courts (the Gods among)
If thou dost ever hope eternal Jove
Will eyes vouchsafe unto the God of Love;
By these and more I do beseech thine aide,
Or make me mine, or mine, this Angel-Maide.
Pity my misery, and take my part;
Or heal my wound, or wound her cruel heart.
Fair Love! Sole Centre of my thoughts! to you
I am a Suppliant, be my Judge, and true;
Censure my passions, prayers, affections, me
Throughly and narrowly, and (if you see
No fault in me, as you no fault shall finde)
Leave off your cruelty, and be you kinde.
Use me according to my love, if I
Adore you not, let me unpitied die.

16. At her going out of the Countrey.

Farewell fair Saint! But when you are away
And far remote, think of me once a day.
When shall I see again your Amber-haire?
Look on your stately forehead, arched fair?

View those two Suns, your heart-bewitching eies?
Your Nose, and Mouth, and all your Rarities?
Hear your sweet tongue again, whose words alone
Would make deaf Mortalls hear, if not a stone?
Not till I come to London: Phœbus, hie;
Drive not the Sun so slowly through the skie.
If these short dayes, these Winter-days will seem
So tedious, then what should I think of them
If they were Summer-Hours? Surely I
Should wish (like Phaeton) thou might'st fall & die:
For in your absence I shall take delight
In Dreams of you t'wear out the longest Night.
I love, and that is all that I can say;
My vehement thoughts take all my words away.
The more I think to write, I can the less:
His heart is safe who can his love express.
Know I am yours much more then I can tell,
And say (with grief) sweet'st of your Sex! Farewell.

17. At my Return, having brought her the first days Journey.

Farewell again, Fair Mistress of my heart;
For you must go, and I must now depart.
My body doth return; my heart doth stay:
You it along with you do bear away.
Lay it by yours, thither it would withdraw;
The fire of mine the frost of yours may thaw.
Farewel dear eies: It will be tedious Night
With me as long as I do want your light.

Farewell sweet mouth, encompass'd with a row
Of richest Cherries over and below;
The Nectar and Ambrosia I shall want
That hang on them, and fast an irksome Lent.
Farewel best tongue; Now thee I shall not hear,
I would not care if all things silent were.
Farewell all fair! Beauty I shall not view,
Until again I do behold't in you.
All things befriend you; Hyems, do not frown
Keep Boreas still, and all his Brethren down.
Be of a kind Aspect, and look not pale
With frost or Snow; nor sullenly let fall
Showr's from thine eies; Be milde, that Phœbus may
Waite on my lovely mistress every day.
So she may hap to favour thee; which thing
May change the Winter to another Spring.
My last Farewel: Till I in London see
My Love again, I shall a mourner be.

18. [Hail my Delight! whom I so well lov'd here]

Hail my Delight! whom I so well lov'd here,
Do now love there and will love every where.
I hope you do not doubt my faith: For I
Know I adore you so I daily die.
When you was here my passion was so great,
That I did bow and sink down under it:
But now y'are gone my Love is so extreme,
I am distracted: when your happy name
I think upon, your beauty, Goodness, all
What you include, I into madness fall;

Rave at these days that do divide us two,
At these slow hours that keep me from you.
Thus I affect: would you did love me so,
That when we meet there might not pass a No.
Tell me how doth that richest jewel, your
Unkindest heart against all love endure?
Although Diana's Charms environ round,
And circle it, to keep it from a wound;
Yet Cupids Dart hath greater force then those,
And when he please can peirce it with his throws.
And I will make such prayers to him, that he
Shall be reveng'd (unto the height) for me:
If's ears be not deaf as his eyes be blind,
I'le make him hear me, and he'l make you kind.
You cannot (fairest Maid) your Fate remove:
Yield therefore not by force, but will to love.

19. [I will not now implore a Muse, not One]

I will not now implore a Muse, not One
Of the inhabiters of Helicon:
Neither Apollo, he that doth above
Sing Sacred Anthems to eternal Jove:
If you (sweet Mistress) will vouchsafe to be
Gracious, and read each line will come off free.
Since I beheld your Beauty I've forgot
My former pleasures, and now know them not:
I've no Delight but you, and you are so
Unkind to me you are my torment too.
Unmerciful Destinies! that do unite
A cruel torment with a sweet delight.

But be you far more harder-hearted then
Was ever Lady yet to any man;
Though Daphne-like you shun, and run away;
Like Phœbus I behind you will not stay.
You are regardless, and will lend no ear
Unto my vows, nor my entreaties hear:
Deign therefore, you immortal Deities
That reign enthroned in the lofty Skies;
Hear, and redress my wrongs, pity my mone,
Or make her's flesh, or mine an heart of stone;
Or guide her tongue that thence kind words may come,
Or strik me deaf, or strik my Mistress dumb:
Yet is her tongue all Musick, and so rare,
It makes me even to love my own despair.
For Neptunes sake, whose Trident awes the Sea,
Pale Luna shine with an auspicious ray.
If thou dost love the bright delicious bride
Of Mulciber, Mars be thou on my side.
By thy wing'd feet, and by thy Charmed wand,
A gracious influence, Mercury, I command.
For Alcumena's Night, and for her Child,
The Monster-Queller, Jupiter be mild.
If ever thou didst love Adonis deare,
Now Venus favour me in thy Careere.
If thou dost hope Jove will allow thee peace
In heaven, that did affor'd thee small in Greece;
On Lovers (Saturne) gently smile, and joyn
(With th'other Six) to perfect my design.
By all Ver's various flowers, and Autumns fruit,
Sol, I implore thee to complete my suit.

If me the Planets do befriend in this,
Her Cruelty cannot withstand my bliss;
Against the Stars there is no striving, she
Must yield unto her Fate, which is to me;
And (Lady) if their beams be gracious, know,
I mean to have you whether you will or no.

20. [My love (Dear Soul) is grown unto that height]

My love (Dear Soul) is grown unto that height,
That when I cannot see you I must write:
By my affection, now I am from you,
You may perceive my former words were true.
Doubt me not (Lady!) rather doubt the Sun
(Dash'd out with Ocean waves) will cease to run:
Believe the Moon, pale Cynthia of the night,
Will leave her Sphere, and on the earth alight;
And th'other Planets (frighted at this change)
Will stand still in a maze, and leave to range;
Believe old Neptune missing of his Deare,
Will be dul'd into calmness out of fear;
Suppose the earth wanting the Light Divine
That nourish't it, will never more be green;
Believe the earth agreeing yet with Heaven,
Into another Chaos will be driven;
Imagine what you will, true or untrue;
But never think I can be false to you.
Know that if you affection will return,
That now Im'warm, and will hereafter burn;
That now I curb my passions; but will then
Give way unto them, love, and love agen.

We'l not be parted, be not you ingrate,
By Lands, or Seas, by friends or foes, or fate.

21. [Dear Saint, I do love you so well]

Dear Saint, I do love you so well,
You cannot think, nor I can tell.
As when from earth some look on high,
And see the Lights that grace the skie,
They think them small, because they seem
Not unto them to be extreme;
So you perchance when you do read
My Love dress'd in so poor a weed
As my weak Muse can frame, will straight
Or think it counterfeit, or light:
But could my hand express my minde,
You would no longer be unkinde;
For tis so full of love to you,
You cannot think, nor I can shew.

22. [May you (fair Sweet) live long and happily]

May you (fair Sweet) live long and happily:
But do not you live so that I must dye.
Be kind; for if you chance to frown I fall:
Your No is equal to the Fates sad Call.
A curious Limner dares profess a Strife
With Nature, thinks with art to match the life:
O that my pen could draw my heart, and you
Be won (by certainties) to know me true!
How many thousand prayers would you read over!
How many vows professed by your Lover!
What a poor martyr you would see! An heart,
Dying in flames because you care not for't!

Shall I believe you always will remain
So careless of me, and so slight my pain?
I'le not despair; when you least think to be
Kind unto me, the Gods may pity me;
Make you with me in an affection joyn
And mollifie your heart as much as mine,
To sacred Hymen their high wills reveal,
And make him sign our Loves with his broad seal.
Nor will I wish (if you do slight me ever)
That you may love, and may be pitied never;
Far be it from me: onely that you may
Sigh once, weep one tear, and wear black one day.
But I will hope you may be kind, and (though
Y'are strange so long) not always use me so.
Pity your Servant; if I do not prove
Worthy of your love, then withdraw your love.

23. To her resolved to go beyond Sea.

Unkind, fair Mistress! are not frowns and Noes
Enough, to fill your Servant full of woes?
Can you not be cruel enough, unless
You leave this Kingdom, and do pass the Seas?
Like unto Cæsar would you have me fall
With many wounds, and triumph over all?
Though, when y'are gon my fate is sad, I will
Wish you all good though you wish me all ill.
May Neptune proud of such a burthen, smooth
His old and angry Face, and fall in love;

May not an adverse winde as much as breath;
That you may smile upon the Seas beneath.
Were I not wondrous true, instead of prayers
I should use imprecations, curse the stars,
Wish Neptune with his powerful Trident throw
The waters from the Centre, and below
In that Abyss sink down your Ship, and then
The raging winds blow back the Seas agen
And cover you, that women henceforth may
Beware, and earnest love with earnest pay.
But I am patient, and (though in vaine
I love) I dare not therefore be profane.
May you arrive safely and soon, and live
In all felicity whil'st I here grieve,
And sigh, and weep for you; may not a thought
Of yours remember me, (be I forgot)
Lest when you think how you have left me, you
Should give a stop unto your mirth, and rue.
But one word more; it is not yet too late
To make a wretched Lover fortunate:
Let not my prayers, sighes, vows be spent in vain,
But as I do love you, so love again;
And we will go together, never part,
Till I your body have who have my heart;
Which had I in possession, I should finde
Ways soon enough to win your backward mind.

24. [Although she cannot number thousands, even]

Although she cannot number thousands, even
With some deform'd, whom Fortune more hath given;

Shall want of wealth (scorn'd by true happiness)
Resist my way, or make me love her less?
Yet hath she a fair Portion, and her Name
From one of our best Houses, Coritane;
And she is beauteous as a cheerful day,
Or Venus rising from her Mother-Sea.
Are not her teeth the richest Pearls? and sure
He that hath Pearls enow cannot be poor;
Are not her radiant eies two diamonds fair?
And we all know that those stones precious are;
Art not her hairs of Gold? And what but it
Makes wrinkles smooth; Age, youth; unfit things, fit?
Her beauteous Cheekes are Roses, such as neither
The Spring can give, nor the cold Winter wither.
Her lovely Breasts are Apples of more worth
Then ever the Hesperides brought forth;
Arabian Odours, both the India's Good
She in one curious body doth include;
Cupid in nothing more his eies doth miss,
Then that he cannot see how fair she is.
Jupiter for her would unthrone his Queen,
And Pluto leave his lovely Proserpine;
Neptune from Amphitrite would remove,
And Mars for her forsake the Queen of love.
She's like a Soul before it doth depart;
Even all in all, and All in every part.
No man hath seen her, but to every Sence
Of him she bettereth the intelligence;
He knows his eies are perfect in their sight,
That in no other Object can delight;

He knows his smelling's exquisite that doth
When he hath felt her breath all others loth;
A perfume for the Gods most fit, and sweet
When they (at Counsel) on Olympus meet,
And Iris they or Mercury beneath
Tis likely send for her so fragrant breath:
A free and unconfined touching her
Above the lips of Queens all would prefer,
Or sacred hands of bounteous Kings; compar'd
The pretious Down of Phœnix's being hard
Unto her softer skin: And her sweet Tongue
Which chides in Musick, and enchantes in song,
And strikes the ablest Rhetoricians dumb,
Is fit'st to plead the peace of Christendom;
He in the sphere of happiness will move
On whom she pleases to bestow her love,
And have the most delicious Repast
That shall her Hymenæan Dainties tast.
You that are beauty in the Zenith, who
Can find no Equal wheresoer'e you go,
My Love no longer cruelly despise,
But dart me mercy from your gracious eyes,
And we shall both be rich: For I am sure,
Themselves no happy Lovers ere thought poore.

25. To her obtain'd.

Past are my sighs, and woes, complaints, and tears,
Nor am I longer subject to my fears;
Her frowns no more strike terrour to my soul,
Though I was wounded she hath made me whole.

Within the rank of happy Lovers I
Am now enrol'd, and march triumphantly
Ore all the Crosses that before did stay,
And hinder me to enter in this way,
And sing the Boy-Gods praise, who (wanting sight)
Shot at my Mistress and did hit the White.
My happiness is such, that Times to come
Shall not complain I of my joys was dumbe.
Let him whose Mistress is deform'd or old,
Not worth a Sonnet nor a Line, withhold:
Or (if on such an heap of years, or sad
Chaos of features, he will needs run mad;
Loose the true judgement of his eyes, or think
That Channel water's Nectar he doth drink)
Let him profess he's happy ne're so much,
The World that sees her cannot think him such.
'Twere fondness in me, that what ere my youth
Writ in her praise I now should say was truth;
I would not if I could: but to be just
To her, and to my self, thus much I must.
I'm so far from repenting of my choice,
That every day she's dearer in mine eyes.
Dear heart! and dearer to me then mine heart!
We'l live in love, and in our loves depart.
The World shall bless our Fates, and they that come
Into sad bonds, wish happy Lovers dumb.