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53
MATRIMONY.
1
O WHY is thy brow, young Knight,Defaced with the frowns of age?
And why are thy hands, young Knight,
Thus lock'd with the grasp of rage?
And why are thy tender sighs
Exchanged for indignant gloom?
And why do thy rolling eyes
The basilisk's glare assume?
2
Remember thy wooing days;The damsel was then divine:
Remember thy winning ways,
That made such a goddess thine.
And art thou then changed so much,
By Hymen congeal'd so soon,
As shrink from the Lady's touch,
Almost in the Honey-moon!
3
AND THOU, gentle Lady fair,Why droops the reproachful brow?
And why, gentle Lady fair,
So little like gentle now?
And why are those looks, so meek,
Now wrathfully cast askance?
And why in thine alter'd cheek
Do now all the Furies dance?
4
Forget not the days of love—Or were they the days of guile?
Thine emblem was then the Dove—
Or was it but woman's wile?
Or art thou no more the same?
Is all the enchantment o'er?
Is love such an airy name,
And wedlock a yoke so sore?
5
Alas, 'tis unriddled now;'Twas Folly that link'd your lot:
Her Cap is on either brow,
Conjoin'd in a gordian knot.
6
Thus pair'd in the hopeless yoke,And gall'd with a ceaseless weight,
And lash'd with vexation's stroke,
Do fools become wise too late.
7
Then joy to thy shoulders, Knight!And thine, gentle Lady fair!
There Folly has yoked ye tight;
And Wedlock will keep ye there!
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