any sensuall feast with thee alone But my fiue wits nor my fiue sences can Diswade one foolish heart from seruing thee Who leaues vnswai'd the likenesse of a man Thy proud hearts slaue and vassall wretch to be Onely my plague thus farre I count my gaine That she that makes me sinne awards me paine 142 LOue is my sinne and thy deare vertue hate Hate of my sinne grounded on sinfull louing O but with mine compare thou thine owne state And thou shalt finde it merrits not reproouing Or if it do not from those lips of thine That haue prophan'd their scarlet ornaments And seald false bonds of loue as oft as mine Robd others beds reuenues of their rents Be it lawfull I loue thee as thou lou'st those Whome thine eyes wooe as mine importune thee Roote pittie in thy heart that when it growes Thy pitty may deserue to pittied bee If thou doost seeke to haue what thou doost hide By selfe example mai'st thou be denide 143 LOe as a carefull huswife runnes to catch One of her fethered creatures broake away Sets downe her babe and makes all swift dispatch In pursuit of the thing she would haue stay Whilst her neglected child holds her in chace Cries to catch her whose busie care is bent To follow that which flies before her face Not prizing her poore infants discontent So runst thou after that which flies from thee Whilst I thy babe chace thee a farre behind But if thou catch thy hope turne back to me And play the mothers part kisse me be kind So will I pray that thou maist haue thy Will If thou turne back and my loude crying still 144 TWo loues I haue of comfort and dispaire Which like two spirits do sugiest me still The better angell is a man right faire The worser spirit a woman collour'd il To win me soone to hell my femall euill Tempteth my better angel from my sight And would corrupt my saint to be a diuel Wooing his purity with her fowle pride And whether that my angel be turn'd finde Suspect I may yet not directly tell But being both from me both to each friend I gesse one angel in an others hel Yet this shal I nere know but liue in doubt Till my bad angel fire my good one out 145 THose lips that Loues owne hand did make Breath'd forth the sound that said I hate To me that languisht for her sake But when she saw my wofull state Straight in her heart did mercie come Chiding that tongue that euer sweet Was vsde in giuing gentle dome And tought it thus a new to greete I hate she alterd with an end That follow'd it as gentle day Doth follow night who like a fiend From heauen to hell is flowne away I hate from hate away she threw And sau'd my life saying not you 146 POore soule the center of my sinfull earth My sinfull earth these rebbell powres that thee array Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth Painting thy outward walls so costlie gay Why so large cost hauing so short a lease Dost thou vpon thy fading mansion spend Shall wormes inheritors of this excesse Eate vp thy charge is this thy bodies end Then soule liue thou vpon thy seruants losse And let that pine to aggrauat thy store Buy tearmes diuine in selling houres of drosse Within be fed without be rich no more So shalt thou feed on death that feeds on men And death once dead ther 's no more dying then 147 MY loue is as a feauer longing still For that which longer nurseth the disease Feeding on that which doth preserue the ill Th' vncertaine sicklie appetite to please My reason the Phisition to my loue Angry that his prescriptions are not kept Hath left me and I desperate now approoue Desire is death which Phisick did except Past cure I am now Reason is past care And frantick madde with euer-more vnrest My thoughts and my discourse as mad mens are At random from the truth vainely exprest For I haue sworne thee faire and thought thee bright Who art as black as hell as darke as night 148 O Me what eyes hath loue put in my head Which haue no correspondence with true sight Or if they haue where is my iudgment fled That censures falsely what they see aright If that be faire whereon my false eyes dote What meanes the world to say it is not so If it be not then loue doth well denote Loues eye is not so true as all mens no How can it O how can loues eye be true That is so vext with watching and with teares No maruaile then though I mistake my view The sunne it selfe sees not till heauen cleeres O cunning loue with teares thou keepst me blinde Least eyes well seeing thy foule faults should finde 149 CAnst thou O cruell say I loue thee not When I against my selfe with thee pertake Doe I not thinke on thee when I forgot Am of my selfe all tirant for thy sake Who hateth thee that I doe call my friend On whom froun'st thou that I doe faune vpon Nay if thou lowrst on me doe I not spend Reuenge vpon my selfe with present mone What merrit do I in my selfe respect That is so proude thy seruice to dispise When all my best doth worship thy defect Commanded by the motion of thine eyes But loue hate on for now I know thy minde Those that can see thou lou'st and I am blind 150 OH from what powre hast thou this powrefull might VVith insufficiency my heart to sway To make me giue the lie to my true sight And swere that brightnesse doth not grace the day Whence hast thou this becomming of things il That in the very refuse of thy deeds There is such strength and warrantise of skill That in my minde thy worst all best exceeds Who taught thee how to make me loue thee more The more I heare and see iust cause of hate Oh though I loue what others doe abhor VVith others thou shouldst not abhor my state If thy vnworthinesse raisd loue in me More worthy I to be belou'd of thee 151 LOue is too young to know what conscience is Yet who knowes not conscience is borne of loue Then gentle cheater vrge not my amisse Least guilty of my faults thy sweet selfe proue For thou betraying me I doe betray My nobler part to my grose bodies treason My soule doth tell my body that he may Triumph in loue flesh staies no farther reason But rysing at thy name doth point out thee As his triumphant prize proud of this pride He is contented thy poore drudge to be To stand in thy affaires fall by thy side No want of conscience hold it that I call Her loue for whose deare loue I rise and fall 152 IN louing thee thou know'st I am forsworne But thou art twice forsworne to me loue swearing In act thy bed-vow broake and new faith torne In vowing new hate after new loue bearing But why of two othes breach doe I accuse
cease And threescoore yeare would make the world away Let those whom nature hath not made for store Harsh featurelesse and rude barrenly perrish Looke whom she best indow'd she gaue the more Which bountious guift thou shouldst in bounty cherrish She caru'd thee for her seale and ment therby Thou shouldst print more not let that coppy die 12 WHen I doe count the clock that tels the time And see the braue day sunck in hidious night When I behold the violet past prime And sable curls or siluer'd ore with white When lofty trees I see barren of leaues Which erst from heat did canopie the herd And Sommers greene all girded vp in sheaues Borne on the beare with white and bristly beard Then of thy beauty do I question make That thou among the wastes of time must goe Since sweets and beauties do them-selues forsake And die as fast as they see others grow And nothing gainst Times sieth can make defence Saue breed to braue him when he takes thee hence 13 O That you were your selfe but loue you are No longer yours then you your selfe here liue Against this cumming end you should prepare And your sweet semblance to some other giue So should that beauty which you hold in lease Find no determination then you were You selfe again after your selfes decease When your sweet issue your sweet forme should beare Who lets so faire a house fall to decay Which husbandry in honour might vphold Against the stormy gusts of winters day And barren rage of deaths eternall cold O none but vnthrifts deare my loue you know You had a Father let your Son say so 14 NOt from the stars do I my iudgement plucke And yet me thinkes I haue Astronomy But not to tell of good or euil lucke Of plagues of dearths or seasons quallity Nor can I fortune to breese mynuits tell Pointing to each his thunder raine and winde Or say with Princes if it shal go wel By oft predict that I in heauen finde But from thine eies my knowledge I deriue And constant stars in them I read such art As truth and beautie shal together thriue If from thy selfe to store thou wouldst conuert Thy end is Truthes and Beauties doome and date 15 WHen I consider euery thing that growes Holds in perfection but a little moment That this huge stage presenteth nought but showes Whereon the Stars in secret influence comment When I perceiue that men as plants increase Cheared and checkt euen by the selfe-same skie Vaunt in their youthfull sap at height decrease And were their braue state out of memory Then the conceit of this inconstant stay Sets you most rich in youth before my sight Where wastfull time debateth with decay To change your day of youth to sullied night And all in war with Time for loue of you As he takes from you I ingraft you new 16 BVt wherefore do not you a mightier waie Make warre vppon this bloudie tirant time And fortifie your selfe in your decay With meanes more blessed then my barren rime Now stand you on the top of happie houres And many maiden gardens yet vnset With vertuous wish would beare your liuing flowers Much liker then your painted counterfeit So should the lines of life that life repaire Which this Times pensel or my pupill pen Neither in inward worth nor outward faire Can make you liue your selfe in eies of men To giue away your selfe keeps your selfe still And you must liue drawne by your owne sweet skill 17 WHo will beleeue my verse in time to come If it were fild with your most high deserts Which hides your life and shewes not halfe your parts If I could write the beauty of your eyes And in fresh numbers number all your graces The age to come would say this Poet lies Such heauenly touches nere toucht earthly faces So should my papers yellowed with their age Be scorn'd like old men of lesse truth then tongue And your true rights be termd a Poets rage And stretched miter of an Antique song But were some childe of yours aliue that time You should liue twise in it and in my rime 18. SHall I compare thee to a Summers day Thou art more louely and more temperate Rough windes do shake the darling buds of Maie And Sommers lease hath all too short a date Sometime too hot the eye of heauen shines And often is his gold complexion dimm'd And euery faire from faire some-time declines By chance or natures changing course vntrim'd But thy eternall Sommer shall not fade Nor loose possession of that faire thou ow'st Nor shall death brag thou wandr'st in his shade When in eternall lines to time thou grow'st So long as men can breath or eyes can see So long liues this and this giues life to thee 19 DEuouring time blunt thou the Lyons pawes And make the earth deuoure her owne sweet brood Plucke thee keene teeth from the fierce Tygers yawes And burne the long liu'd Phaenix in her blood Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleet'st And do what ere thou wilt swift-footed time To the wide world and all her fading sweets But I forbid thee one most hainous crime O carue not with thy howers my loues faire brow Nor draw noe lines there with thine antique pen Him in thy course vntainted doe allow For beauties patterne to succeding men Yet doe thy worst ould Time dispight thy wrong My loue shall in my verse euer liue young 20 A Womans face with natures owne hand painted Haste thou the Master Mistris of my passion A womans gentle hart but not acquainted With shifting change as is false womens fashion An eye more bright then theirs lesse false in rowling Gilding the obiect where-vpon it gazeth A man in hew all Hews in his controwling Which steales mens eyes and womens soules amaseth And for a woman wert thou first created Till nature as she wrought thee fell a dotinge And by addition me of thee defeated By adding one thing to my purpose nothing But since she prickt thee out for womens pleasure Mine be thy loue and thy loues vse their treasure 21 SO is it not with me as with that Muse Stird by a painted beauty to his verse Who heauen it selfe for ornament doth vse And euery faire with his faire doth reherse Making a coopelment of proud compare With Sunne and Moone with earth and seas rich gems With Aprills first borne flowers and all things rare That heauens ayre in this huge rondure hems O let me true in loue but truly write And then beleeue me my loue is as faire As any mothers childe though not so bright As those gould candells fixt in heauens ayer Let them say more that like of heare-say well I will not prayse that purpose not to sell. 22 MY glasse shall not perswade me I am ould So long as youth and thou are of one date But when in thee times forrwes I behould Then look I death my daies should expiate For all that beauty that doth
But for their virtue only is their show They liue vnwoo'd and vnrespected fade Die to themselues Sweet Roses doe not so Of their sweet deathes are sweetest odors made And so of you beautious and louely youth When that shall vade by verse distils your truth 55 NOt marble nor the guilded monument Of Princes shall out-liue this powrefull rime But you shall shine more bright in these contents Then vnswept stone besmeer'd with sluttish time When wastefull warre shall Statues ouer-turne And broiles roote out the worke of masonry Nor Mars his sword nor warres quick fire shall burne The liuing record of your memory Gainst death and all obliuious emnity Shall you pace forth your praise shall stil finde roome Euen in the eyes of all posterity That weare this world out to the ending doome So til the iudgement that your selfe arise You liue in this and dwell in louers eies 56 Sweet loue renew thy force be it not said Thy edge should blunter be then apetite Which but too daie by feeding is alaied To morrow sharpned in his former might So loue be thou although too daie thou fill Thy hungrie eies euen till they winck with fulnesse Too morrow see againe and doe not kill The spirit of Loue with a perpetual dulnesse Let this sad Intrim like the Ocean be Which parts the shore where two contracted new Come daily to the banckes that when they see Returne of loue more blest may be the view As cal it Winter which being ful of care Makes Sōmers welcome thrice more wish'd more rare 57 BEing your slaue what should I doe but tend Vpon the houres and times of your desire I haue no precious time at al to spend Nor seruices to doe til you require Nor dare I chide the world without end houre Whilst I my soueraine watch the clock for you Nor thinke the bitternesse of absence sowre VVhen you haue bid your seruant once adieue Nor dare I question with my ieallous thought VVhere you may be or your affaires suppose But like a sad slaue stay and thinke of nought Saue where you are how happy you make those So true a foole is loue that in your Will Though you doe any thing he thinkes no ill 58 THat God forbid that made me first your slaue I should in thought controule your times of pleasure Or at your hand th' account of houres to craue Being your vassail bound to staie your leisure Oh let me suffer being at your beck Th' imprison'd absence of your libertie And patience tame to sufferance bide each check Without accusing you of iniury Be where you list your charter is so strong That you your selfe may priuiledge your time To what you will to you it doth belong Your selfe to pardon of selfe-doing crime I am to waite though waiting so be hell Not blame your pleasure be it ill or well 59 IF their bee nothing new but that which is Hath beene before how are our braines beguild Which laboring for inuention beare amisse The second burthen of a former child Oh that record could with a back-ward looke Euen of fiue hundreth courses of the Sunne Show me your image in some antique booke Since minde at first in carrecter was done That I might see what the old world could say To this composed wonder of your frame Whether we are mended or where better they Or whether reuolution be the same Oh sure I am the wits of former daies To subiects worse haue giuen admiring praise 60 LIke as the waues make towards the pibled shore So do our minuites haften to their end Each changing place with that which goes before In sequent toile all forwards do contend Natiuity once in the maine of light Crawles to maturity wherewith being crown'd Crooked eclipses gainst his glory fight And time that gaue doth now his gift confound Time doth transfixe the florish set on youth And delues the paralels in beauties brow Feedes on the rarities of natures truth And nothing stands but for his sieth to mow And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand Praising thy worth dispight his cruell hand 61 IS it thy wil thy Image should keepe open My heauy eielids to the weary night Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken While shadowes like to thee do mocke my sight Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee So farre from home into my deeds to prye To find out shames and idle houres in me The skope and tenure of thy Ielousie O no thy loue though much is not so great It is my loue that keepes mine eie awake Mine owne true loue that doth my rest defeat To plaie the watch-man euer for thy sake For thee watch I whilst thou dost wake elsewhere From me farre of with others all to neere 62 SInne of self-selfe-loue possesseth al mine eie And all my soule and al my euery part And for this sinne there is no remedie It is so grounded inward in my heart Me thinkes no face so gratious is as mine No shape so true no truth of such account And for my selfe mine owne worth do define As I all other in all worths surmount But when my glasse shewes me my selfe indeed Beated and chopt with tand antiquitie Mine owne selfe loue quite contrary I read Selfe so selfe louing were iniquity T' is thee my selfe that for my selfe I praise Painting my age with beauty of thy daies 63 AGainst my loue shall be as I am now With times iniurious hand chrusht and ore-worne When houres haue dreind his blood and fild his brow With lines and wrincles when his youthfull morne Hath trauaild on to Ages steepie night And all those beauties whereof now he 's King Are vanishing or vanisht out of sight Stealing away the treasure of his Spring For such a time do I now fortifie Against confounding Ages cruell knife That he shall neuer cut from memory My sweet loues beauty though my louers life His beautie shall in these blacke lines be seene And they shall liue and he in them still greene 64 WHen I haue seene by times fell hand defaced The rich proud cost of outworne buried age When sometime loftie towers I see downe rased And brasse eternall slaue to mortall rage When I haue seene the hungry Ocean gaine Aduantage on the Kingdome of the shoare And the firme soile win of the watry maine Increasing store with losse and losse with store When I haue seene such interchange of state Or state it selfe confounded to decay Ruine hath taught me thus to ruminate That Time will come and take my loue away This thought is as a death which cannot choose But weepe to haue that which it feares to loose 65 SInce brasse nor stone nor earth nor boundlesse sea But sad mortallity ore-swaies their power How with this rage shall beautie hold a plea Whose action is no stronger then a flower O how shall summers hunny breath hold out Against the wrackfull siedge of battring dayes When rocks impregnable are not so stoute
Nor gates of steele so strong but time decayes O fearefull meditation where alack Shall times best Iewell from times chest lie hid Or what strong hand can hold his swift foote back Or who his spoile or beautie can forbid O none vnlesse this miracle haue might That in black inck my loue may still shine bright 66 TYr'd with all these for restfull death I cry As to behold desert a begger borne And needie Nothing trimd in iollitie And purest faith vnhappily forsworne And gilded honor shamefully misplast And maiden vertue rudely strumpeted And right perfection wrongfully disgrac'd And strength by limping sway disabled And arte made tung-tide by authoritie And Folly Doctor-like controuling skill And simple-Truth miscalde Simplicitie And captiue-good attending Captaine ill Tyr'd with all these from these would I be gone Saue that to dye I leaue my loue alone 67 AH wherefore with infection should he liue And with his presence grace impietie That sinne by him aduantage should atchiue And lace it selfe with his societie Why should false painting immitate his cheeke And steale dead seeing of his liuing hew Why should poore beautie indirectly seeke Roses of shaddow since his Rose is true Why should he liue now nature banckrout is Beggerd of blood to blush through liuely vaines For she hath no exchecker now but his And proud of many liues vpon his gaines O him she stores to show what welth she had In daies long since before these last so bad 68 THus is his cheeke the map of daies out-worne When beauty liu'd and dy'ed as flowers do now Before these bastard signes of faire were borne Or durst inhabit on a liuing brow Before the goulden tresses of the dead The right of sepulchers were shorne away To liue a scond life on second head Ere beauties dead fleece made another gay In him those holy antique howers are seene Without all ornament it selfe and true Making no summer of an others greene Robbing no ould to dresse his beauty new And him as for a map doth Nature store To shew faulse Art what beauty was of yore 69 THose parts of thee that the worlds eye doth view Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend All toungs the voice of soules giue thee that end Vttring bare truth euen so as foes Commend Their outward thus with outward praise is crownd But those same toungs that giue thee so thine owne In other accents doe this praise confound By seeing farther then the eye hath showne They looke into the beauty of thy mind And that in guesse they measure by thy deeds Then churls their thoughts although their eies were kind To thy faire flower ad the rancke smell of weeds But why thy odor matcheth not thy show The solye is this that thou doest common grow 70 THat thou are blam'd shall not be thy defect For slanders marke was euer yet the faire The ornament of beauty is suspect A Crow that flies in heauens sweetest ayre So thou be good slander doth but approue Their worth the greater beeing woo'd of time For Canker vice the sweetest buds doth loue And thou present'st a pure vnstayined prime Thou hast past by the ambush of young daies Either not assayld or victor beeing charg'd Yet this thy praise cannot be soe thy praise To tye vp enuy euermore inlarged If some suspect of ill maskt not thy show Then thou alone kingdomes of hearts shouldst owe. 71 NOe Longer mourne for me when I am dead Then you shall heare the surly sullen bell Giue warning to the world that I am fled From this vile world with vildest wormes to dwell Nay if you read this line remember not The hand that writ it for I loue you so That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot If thinking on me then should make you woe O if I say you looke vpon this verse When I perhaps compounded am with clay Do not so much as my poore name reherse But let your loue euen with my life decay Least the wise world should looke into your mone And mocke you with me after I am gon 72 O Least the world should taske you to recite What merit liu'd in me that you should loue After my death deare loue for get me quite For you in me can nothing worthy proue Vnlesse you would deuise some vertuous lye To doe more for me then mine owne desert And hang more praise vpon deceased I Then nigard truth would willingly impart O least your true loue may seeme falce in this That you for loue speake well of me vntrue My name be buried where my body is And liue no more to shame nor me nor you For I am shamd by that which I bring forth And so should you to loue things nothing worth 73 THat time of yeeare thou maist in me behold When yellow leaues or none or few doe hange Vpon those boughes which shake against the could Bare rn'wd quiers where late the sweet birds sang In me thou seest the twi-light of such day As after Sun-set fadeth in the West Which by and by blacke night doth take away Deaths second selfe that seals vp all in rest In me thou seest the glowing of such fire That on the ashes of his youth doth lye As the death bed whereon it must expire Consum'd with that which it was nurrisht by This thou perceu'st which makes thy loue more strong To loue that well which thou must leaue ere long 74 BVt be contented when that fell arest With out all bayle shall carry me away My life hath in this line some interest Which for memoriall still with thee shall stay When thou reuewest this thou doest reuew The very part was consecrate to thee The earth can haue but earth which is his due My spirit is thine the better part of me So then thou hast but lost the dregs of life The pray of wormes my body being dead The coward conquest of a wretches knife To base of thee to be remembred The worth of that is that which it containes And that is this and this with thee remaines 75 SO are you to my thoughts as food to life Or as sweet season'd shewers are to the ground And for the peace of you I hold such strife As twixt a miser and his wealth is found Now proud as an inioyer and anon Doubting the filching age will steale his treasure Now counting best to be with you alone Then betterd that the world may see my pleasure Some-time all ful with feasting on your sight And by and by cleane starued for a looke Possessing or pursuing no delight Saue what is had or must from you be tooke Thus do I pine and surfet day by day Or gluttoning on all or all away 76 WHy is my verse so barren of new pride So far from variation or quicke change Why with the time do I not glance aside To new found methods and to compounds strange Why write I still all one euer the same And keepe inuention in a noted weed That
couer thee Is but the seemely rayment of my heart Which in thy brest doth liue as thine in me How can I then be elder then thou art O therefore loue be of thy selfe so wary As I not for my selfe but for thee will Bearing thy heart which I will keepe so chary As tender nurse her babe from faring ill Presume not on thy heart when mine is slaine Thou gau'st me thine not to giue backe againe 23 AS an vnperfect actor on the stage Who with his feare is put besides his part Or some fierce thing repleat with too much rage Whose strengths abondance weakens his owne heart So I for feare of trust forget to say The perfect ceremony of loues right And in mine owne loues strength seeme to decay Ore-charg'd with burthen of mine owne loues might O let my books be then the eloquence And domb presagers of my speaking brest Who pleade for loue and look for recompence More then that tonge that more hath more exprest O learne to read what silent loue hath writ To heare wit eies belongs to loues fine wiht 24 MIne eye hath play'd the painter and hath steeld Thy beauties forme in table of my heart My body is the frame wherein ti 's held And perspectiue it is best Painters art For through the Painter must you see his skill To finde where your true image pictur'd lies Which in my bosomes shop is hanging stil That hath his windowes glazed with thine eyes Now see what good-turnes eyes for eies haue done Mine eyes haue drawne thy shape and thine for me Are windowes to my brest where-through the Sun Delights to peepe to gaze therein on thee Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art They draw but what they see know not the hart 25 LEt those who are in fauor with their stars Of publike honour and proud titles bost Whilst I whome fortune of such tryumph bars Vnlookt for ioy in that I honour most Great Princes fauorites their faire leaues spread But as the Marygold at the suns eye And in them-selues their pride lies buried For at a frowne they in their glory die The painefull warrier famosed for worth After a thousand victories once foild Is from the booke of honour rased quite And all the rest forgot for which he foild Then happy I that loue and am beloued Where I may not remoue nor be remoued 26 LOrd of my loue to whome in vassalage Thy merrit hath my dutie strongly knit To thee I send this written ambassage To witnesse duty not to shew my wit Duty so great which wit so poore as mine May make seeme bare in wanting words to shew it But that I hope some good conceipt of thine In thy soules thought all naked will bestow it Til whatsoeuer star that guides my mouing Points on me gratiously with faire aspect And puts apparrell on my tottered louing To show me worthy of their sweet respect Then may I dare to boast how I doe loue thee Til then not show my head where thou maist proue me 27 WEary with toyle I hast me to my bed The deare repose for lims with trauaill tired But then begins a iourny in my head To worke my mind when boddies work 's expired For then my thoughts from far where I abide Intend a zelous pilgrimage to thee And keepe my drooping eye-lids open wide Looking on darknes which the blind doe see Saue that my soules imaginary sight Presents their shaddoe to my sightles view Which like a iewell hunge in gastly night Makes blacke night beautious and her old face new Loe thus by day my lims by night my mind For thee and for my selfe noe quiet finde 28 HOw can I then returne in happy plight That am debard the benifit of rest When daies oppression is not eazd by night But day by night and night by day oprest And each though enimes to ethers raigne Doe in consent shake hands to torture me The one by toyle the other to complaine How far I toyle still farther off from thee I tell the Day to please him thou art bright And do'st him grace when clouds doe blot the heauen So flatter I the swart complexiond night When sparkling stars twire not thou guil'st th' eauen But day doth daily draw my sorrowes longer And night doth nightly make greefes length seeme stronger 29 WHen in disgrace with Fortune and mens eyes I all alone beweepe my out-cast state And trouble deafe heauen with my bootlesse cries And looke vpon my selfe and curse my fate Wishing me like to one more rich in hope Featur'd like him like him with friends possest Desiring this mans art and that mans skope With what I most inioy contented least Yet in these thoughts my selfe almost despising Haplye I thinke on thee and then my state Like to the Larke at breake of daye arising From sullen earth sings himns at Heauens gate For thy sweet loue remembred such welth brings That then I skorne to change my state with Kings 30 WHen to the Sessions of sweet silent thought I sommon vp remembrance of things past I sigh the lacke of many a thing I sought And with old woes new waile my deare times waste Then can I drowne an eye vn-vs'd to flow For precious friends hid in deaths dateles night And weepe a fresh loues long since canceld woe And mone th' expence of many a vannisht sight Then can I greeue at greeuances fore-gon And heauily from woe to woe tell ore The sad account of fore-bemoned mone Which I new pay as if not payd before But if the while I thinke on thee deare friend All losses are restord and sorrowes end 31 Thy bosome is indeared with all hearts Which I by lacking haue supposed dead And there raignes Loue and all Loues louing parts And all those friends which I thought buried How many a holy and obsequious teare Hath deare religious loue stolne from mine eye As interest of the dead which now appeare But things remou'd that hidden in there lie Thou art the graue where buried loue doth liue Hung with the tropheis of my louers gon Who all their parts of me to thee did giue That due of many now is thine alone Their images I lou'd I view in thee And thou all they hast all the all of me 32 IF thou suruiue my well contented daie When that churle death my bones with dust shall couer And shalt by fortune once more re-suruay These poore rude lines of thy deceased Louer Compare them with the bett'ring of the time And though they be out-stript by euery pen Reserue them for my loue not for their rime Exceeded by the hight of happier men Oh then voutsafe me but this louing thought Had my friends Muse growne with this growing age A dearer birth then this his loue had brought To march in ranckes of better equipage But since he died and Poets better proue Theirs for their stile I le read his for his loue 33 FVll many a glorious morning haue I seene Flatter
nor the laies of birds nor the sweet smell Of different flowers in odor and in hew Could make me any summers story tell Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew Nor did I wonder at the Lillies white Nor praise the deepe vermillion in the Rose They weare but sweet but figures of delight Drawne after you you patterne or all those Yet seem'd it Winter still and you away As with your shaddow I with these did play 99 THe forward violet thus did I chide Sweet theefe whence didst thou steale thy sweet that smels If not from my loues breath the purple pride Which on thy soft checke for complexion dwells In my loues veines thou hast too grosely died The Lillie I condemned for thy hand And buds of marierom had stolne thy haire The Roses fearefully on thornes did stand Our blushing shame an other white dispaire A third nor red nor white had stolne of both And to his robbry had annext thy breath But for his theft in pride of all his growth A vengfull canker eate him vp to death More flowers I noted yet I none could see But sweet or culler it had stolne from thee 100 WHere art thou Muse that thou forgetst so long To speake of that which giues thee all thy might Spendst thou thy furie on some worthlesse songe Darkning thy powre to lend base subiects light Returne forgetfull Muse and straight redeeme In gentle numbers time so idely spent Sing to the eare that doth thy laies esteeme And giues thy pen both skill and argument Rise resty Muse my loues sweet face suruay If time haue any wrincle grauen there If any be a Satire to decay And make times spoiles dispised euery where Giue my loue fame faster then time wasts life So thou preuenst his sieth and crooked knife 101 OH truant Muse what shal be thy amends For thy neglect of truth in beauty di'd Both truth and beauty on my loue depends So dost thou too and therein dignifi'd Make answere Muse wilt thou not haply saie Truth needs no collour with his collour fixt Beautie no pensell beauties truth to lay But best is best if neuer intermixt Because he needs no praise wilt thou be dumb Excuse not silence so for 't lies in thee To make him much out-liue a gilded tombe And to be praisd of ages yet to be Then do thy office Muse I teach thee how To make him seeme long hence as he showes now 102 MY loue is strengthned though more weake in seeming I loue not lesse thogh lesse the show appeare That loue is marchandiz'd whose ritch esteeming The owners tongue doth publish euery where Our loue was new and then but in the spring When I was wont to greet it with my laies As Philomell in summers front doth singe And stops his pipe in growth of riper daies Not that the summer is lesse pleasant now Then when her mournefull himns did hush the night But that wild musick burthens euery bow And sweets growne common loose their deare delight Therefore like her I some-time hold my tongue Because I would not dull you with my songe 103 A Lack what pouerty my Muse brings forth That hauing such a skope to show her pride The argument all bare is of more worth Then when it hath my added praise beside Oh blame me not if I no more can write Looke in your glasse and there appeares a face That ouer-goes my blunt inuention quite Dulling my lines and doing me disgrace Were it not sinfull then striuing to mend To marre the subiect that before was well For to no other passe my verses tend Then of your graces and your gifts to tell And more much more then in my verse can sit Your owne glasse showes you when you looke in it 104 TO me faire friend you neuer can be old For as you were when first your eye I eyde Such seemes your beautie still Three Winters colde Haue from the forrests shooke three summers pride Three beautious springs to yellow Autumne turn'd In processe of the seasons haue I seene Three Aprill perfumes in three hot Iunes burn'd Since first I saw you fresh which yet are greene Ah yet doth beauty like a Dyall hand Steale from his figure and no pace perceiu'd So your sweete hew which me thinkes still doth stan Hath motion and mine eye may be deceaued For feare of which heare this thou age vnbred Ere you were borne was beauties summer dead 105 LEt not my loue be cal'd Idolatrie Nor my beloued as an Idoll show Since all alike my songs and praises be To one of one still such and euer so Kinde is my loue to day to morrow kinde Still constant in a wondrous excellence Therefore my verse to constancie confin'de One thing expressing leaues out difference Faire kinde and true is all my argument Faire kinde and true varrying to other words And in this change is my inuention spent Three theams in one which wondrous scope affords Faire kinde and true haue often liu'd alone Which three till now neuer kept seate in one 106 WHen in the Chronicle of wasted time I see discriptions of the fairest wights And beautie making beautifull old rime In praise of Ladies dead and louely Knights Then in the blazon of sweet beauties best Of hand of foote of lip of eye of brow I see their antique Pen would haue exprest Euen such a beauty as you maister now So all their praises are but prophesies Of this our time all you prefiguring And for they look'd but with deuining eyes They had not still enough your worth to sing For we which now behold these present dayes Haue eyes to wonder but lack toungs to praise 107 NOt mine owne feares nor the prophetick soule Of the wide world dreaming on things to come Can yet the lease of my true loue controule Supposde as forfeit to a confin'd doome The mortall Moone hath her eclipse indur'de And the sad Augurs mock their owne presage Incertenties now crowne them-selues assur'de And peace proclaimes Oliues of endlesse age Now with the drops of this most balmie time My loue lookes fresh and death to me subscribes Since spight of him I le liue in this poore rime While he insults ore dull and speachlesse tribes And thou in this shalt finde thy monument When tyrants crests and tombs of brasse are spent 108 WHat 's in the braine that Inck may character Which hath not figur'd to thee my true spirit What 's new to speake what now to register That may expresse my loue or thy deare merit Nothing sweet boy but yet like prayers diuine I must each day say ore the very same Counting no old thing old thou mine I thine Euen as when first I hallowed thy faire name So that eternall loue in loues fresh case Waighes not the dust and iniury of age Nor giues to necessary wrinckles place But makes antiquitie for aye his page Finding the first conceit of loue there bred Where time and outward forme would shew it dead
109 O Neuer say that I was false of heart Though absence seem'd my flame to quallifie As easie might I from my selfe depart As from my soule which in thy brest doth lye That is my home of loue if I haue rang'd Like him that trauels I returne againe Iust to the time not with the time exchang'd So that my selfe bring water for my staine Neuer beleeue though in my nature raign'd All frailties that besiege all kindes of blood That it could so preposterouslie be stain'd To leaue for nothing all thy summe of good For nothing this wide Vniuerse I call Saue thou my Rose in it thou art my all 110 ALas 't is true I haue gone here and there And made my selfe a motley to the view Gor'd mine own thoughts sold cheap what is most deare Made old offences of affections new Most true it is that I haue lookt on truth Asconce and strangely But by all aboue These blenches gaue my heart an other youth And worse essaies prou'd thee my best of loue Now all is done haue what shall haue no end Mine appetite I neuer more will grin'de On newer proofe to trie an older friend A God in loue to whom I am confin'd Then giue me welcome next my heauen the best Euen to thy pure and most most louing brest 111 O For my sake doe you wish fortune chide The guiltie goddesse of my harmfull deeds That did not better for my life prouide Then publick meanes which publick manners breeds Thence comes it that my name receiues a brand And almost thence my nature is subdu'd To what it workes in like the Dyers hand Pitty me then and wish I were renu'de Whilst like a willing pacient I will drinke Potions of Eysell gainst my strong infection No bitternesse that I will bitter thinke Nor double pennance to correct correction Pittie me then deare friend and I assure yee Euen that your pittie is enough to cure mee 112 YOur loue and pittie doth th' impression fill Which vulgar scandall stampt vpon my brow For what care I who calles me well or ill So you ore-greene my bad my good alow You are my All the world and I must striue To know my shames and praises from your tounge None else to me nor I to none aliue That my steel'd sence or changes right or wrong In so profound Abisme I throw all care Of others voyces that my Adders sence To cryttick and to flatterer stopped are Marke how with my neglect I doe dispence You are so strongly in my purpose bred That all the world besides me thinkes y' are dead 113 SInce I left you mine eye is in my minde And that which gouernes me to goe about Doth part his function and is partly blind Seemes seeing but effectually is out For it no forme deliuers to the heart Of bird of flowre or shape which it doth lack Of his quick obiects hath the minde no part Nor his owne vision hâ—â—ds what it doth catch For if it see the rud'st or gentlest sight The most sweet-fauor or deformedst creature The mountaine or the sea the day or night The Croe or Doue it shapes them to your feature Incapable of more repleat with you My most true minde thus maketh mine vntrue 114 OR whether doth my minde being crown'd with you Drinke vp the monarks plague this flattery Or whether shall I say mine eie saith true And that your loue taught it this Alcumie To make of monsters and things indigest Such cherubines as your sweet selfe resemble Creating euery bad a perfect best As fast as obiects to his beames assemble Oh t is the first t is flatry in my seeing And my great minde most kingly drinkes it vp Mine eie well knowes what with his gust is greeing And to his pallat doth prepare the cup. If it be poison'd t is the lesser sinne That mine eye loues it and doth first beginne 115 THose lines that I before haue writ doe lie Euen those that said I could not loue you deerer Yet then my iudgement knew no reason why My most full flame should afterwards burne cleerer But reckening time whose milliond accidents Creepe in twixt vowes and change decrees of Kings Tan sacred beautie blunt the sharp'st intents Diuert strong mindes to th' course of altring things Alas why fearing of times tiranie Might I not then say now I loue you best When I was certaine ore in-certainty Crowning the present doubting of the rest Loue is a Babe then might I not say so To giue full growth to that which still doth grow 119 LEt me not to the marriage of true mindes Admit impediments loue is not loue Which alters when it alteration findes Or bends with the remouer to remoue O no it is an euer fixed marke That lookes on tempests and is neuer shaken It is the star to euery wandring barke Whose worths vnkowne although his higth be taken Lou's not Times foole though rosie lips and cheeks Within his bending sickles compasse come Loue alters not with his breefe houres and weekes But beares it out euen to the edge of doome If this be error and vpon me proued I neuer writ nor no man euer loued 117 ACcuse me thus that I haue scanted all Wherein I should your great deserts repay Forgot vpon your dearest loue to call Whereto al bonds do tie me day by day That I haue frequent binne with vnknown mindes And giuen to time your owne deare purchas'd right That I haue hoysted saile to al the windes Which should transport me farthest from your sight Booke both my wilfulnesse and errors downe And on iust proofe surmise accumilate Bring me within the leuel of your frowne But shoote not at me in your wakened hate Since my appeale saies I did striue to prooue The constancy and virtue of your loue 118 LIke as to make our appetites more keene With eager compounds we our pallat vrge As to preuent our malladies vnseene We sicken to shun sicknesse when we purge Euen so being full of your nere cloying sweetnesse To bitter sawces did I frame my feeding And sicke of wel-fare found a kind of meetnesse To be diseas'd ere that there was true needing Thus pollicie in loue t'anticipate The ills that were not grew to faults assured And brought to medicine a healthfull state Which rancke of goodnesse would by ill be cured But thence I learne and find the lesson true Drugs poyson him that so fell sicke of you 119 WHat potions haue I drunke of Syren teares Distil'd from Lymbecks foule as hell within Applying feares to hopes and hopes to feares Still loosing when I saw my selfe to win What wretched errors hath my heart committed Whilst it hath thought it selfe so blessed neuer How haue mine eies out of their Spheares bene fitted In the distraction of this madding feuer O benefit of ill now I find true That better is by euil still made better And ruin'd loue when it is built anew Growes fairer then at first more strong far greater So I