to aspire That this her feaver might be it And yet she cannot wast by this Nor long beare this torturing wrong For much corruption needfull is To fuell such a feaver long These burning fits but meteors bee Whose matter in thee is soone spent Thy beauty ' and all parts which are thee Are unchangeable firmament Yet t' was of my minde seising thee Though it in thee cannot persever For I had rather owner bee Of thee one houre then all else ever Aire and Angels Twice or thrice had I loved thee Before I knew thy face or name So in a voice so in a shapelesse flame Angells affect us oft and worship'd bee Still when to where thou wert I came Some lovely glorious nothing I did see But since my soule whose child love is Takes limmes of flesh and else could nothing doe More subtile then the parent is Love must not be but take a body too And therefore what thou wert and who I bid Love aske and now That it assume thy body I allow And fixe it selfe in thy lip eye and brow Whilst thus to ballast love I thought And so more steddily to have gone With wares which would sinke admiration I saw I had loves pinnace overfraught Ev'ry thy haire for love to worke upon Is much too much some fitter must be sought For nor in nothing nor in things Extreme and scattring bright can love inhere Then as an Angell face and wings Of aire not pure as it yet pure doth weare So thy love may be my loves spheare Just such disparitie As is twixt Aire and Angells puritie 'Twixt womens love and mens will ever bee Breake of day 'T Is true 't is day what though it be O wilt thou therefore rise from me Why should we rise because 't is light Did we lie downe because 't was night Love which in spight of darknesse brought us hether Should in despight of light keepe us together Light hath no tongue but is all eye If it could speake as well as spie This were the worst that it could say That being well I faine would stay And that I lov'd my heart and honor so That I would not from him that had them goe Must businesse thee from hence remove Oh that 's the worst disease of love The poore the foule the false love can Admit but not the busied man He which hath businesse and makes love doth doe Such wrong as when a maryed man doth wooe The Anniversarie ALL Kings and all their favorites All glory of honors beauties wits The Sun it selfe which makes times as they passe Is elder by a yeare now then it was When thou and I first one another saw All other things to their destruction draw Only our love hath no decay This no to morrow hath nor yesterday Running it never runs from us away But truly keepes his first last everlasting day Two graves must hide thine and my coarse If one might death were no divorce Alas as well as other Princes wee Who Prince enough in one another bee Must leave at last in death these eyes and eares Oft fed with true oathes and with sweet salt teares But soules where nothing dwells but love All other thoughts being inmates then shall prove This or a love increased there above When bodies to their graves soules from their graves remove And then wee shall be throughly blest But now no more then all the rest Here upon earth we' are Kings and none but wee Can be such Kings nor of such subjects bee Who is so safe as wee where none can doe Treason to us except one of us two True and false feares let us refraine Let us love nobly and live and adde againe Yeares and yeares unto yeares till we attaine To write threescore this is the second of our raigne A Valediction of my name in the window I. MY name engrav'd herein Doth contribute my firmnesse to this glasse Which ever since that charme hath beene As hard as that which grav'd it was Thine eye will give it price enough to mock The diamonds of either rock II. 'T is much that Glasse should bee As all confessing and through-shine as I 'T is more that it shewes thee to thee And cleare reflects thee to thine eye But all such rules loves magique can undoe Here you see mee and I am you III. As no one point nor dash Which are but accessaries to this name The showers and tempests can outwash So shall all times finde mee the same You this intirenesse better may fulfill Who have the patterne with you still IIII. Or if too hard and deepe This learning be for a scratch'd name to teach It as a given deaths head keepe Lovers mortalitie to preach Or thinke this ragged bony name to bee My ruinous Anatomie V. Then as all my soules bee Emparadis'd in you in whom alone I understand and grow and see The rafters of my body bone Being still with you the Muscle Sinew and Veine Which tile this house will come againe VI. Till my returne repaire And recompact my scattered body so As all the vertuous powers which are Fix'd in the starres are said to flow Into such characters as graved bee When these starres have supremacie VII So since this name was cut When love and griefe their exaltation had No doore'gainst this names influence shut As much more loving as more sad 'T will make thee and thou shouldst till I returne Since I die daily daily mourne VIII When thy inconsiderate hand Flings ope this casement with my trembling name To looke on one whose wit or land New battry to thy heart may frame Then thinke this name alive and that thou thus In it offendst my Genius IX And when thy melted maid Corrupted by thy Lover's gold and page His letter at thy pillow'hath laid Disputed it and tam'd thy rage And thou begin'st to thaw towards him for this May my name step in and hide his X. And if this treason goe To an overt act and that thou write againe In superscribing this name flow Into thy fancy from the pane So in forgetting thou remembrest right And unaware to mee shalt write XI But glasse and lines must bee No meanes our firme substantiall love to keepe Neere death inflicts this lethargie And this I murmure in my sleepe Impute this idle talke to that I goe For dying men talke often so Twicknam garden BLasted with sighs and surrounded with teares Hither I come to seeke the spring And at mine eyes and at mine eares Receive such balmes as else cure every thing But O selfe traytor I do bring The spider love which transubstantiates all And can convert Manna to gall And that this place may thoroughly be thought True Paradise I have the serpent brought 'T were wholsomer for mee that winter did Benight the glory of this place And that a grave frost did forbid These trees to laugh and mocke mee to my face But that I may not this disgrace Indure nor yet leave loving
know my pain As prisoners then are manacled when they' are condem'nd to die What ere shee meant by'it bury it by me For since I am Loves martyr it might breed idolatrie If into others hands these reliques came As 't was humility To afford to it all that a Soule can doe So 't is some bravery That since you would have none of mee I bury some of you The Blossome LIttle think'st thou poore flower Whom I have watch'd sixe or seaven dayes And seene thy birth and seene what every houre Gave to thy growth thee to this height to raise And now dost laugh and triumph on this bough Little think'st thou That it will freeze anon and that I shall To morrow finde thee falne or not at all Little think'st thou poore heart That labours yet to nestle thee And think'st by hovering here to get a part In a forbidden or forbidding tree And hop'st her stiffenesse by long siege to bow Little think'st thou That thou to morrow ere that Sunne doth wake Must with this Sunne and mee a journey take But thou which lov'st to bee Subtile to plague thy selfe wilt say Alas if you must goe what 's that to mee Here lyes my businesse and here I will stay You goe to friends whose love and meanes present Various content To your eyes eares and tast and every part If then your body goe what need your heart Well then stay here but know When thou hast stayd and done thy most A naked thinking heart that makes no show Is to a woman but a kinde of Ghost How shall shee know my heart or having none Know thee for one Practise may make her know some other part But take my word shee doth not know a Heart Meet mee at London then Twenty dayes hence and thou shalt see Mee fresher and more fat by being with men Then if I had staid still with her and thee For Gods sake if you can be you so too I will give you There to another friend whom wee shall finde As glad to have my body as my minde The Primrose VPon this Primrose hill Where it Heav'n would distill A shoure of raine each severall drop might goe To his owne primrose and grow Manna so And where their forme and their infinitie Make a terrestriall Galaxie As the small starres doe in the skie I walke to finde a true Love and I see That 't is not a mere woman that is shee But must or more or lesse then woman bee Yet know I not which flower I wish a sixe or foure For should my true-true-Love lesse then woman bee She were scarce any thing and then should shee Be more then woman shee would get above All thought of sexe and thinke to move My heart to study her and not to love Both these were monsters Since there must reside Falshood in woman I could more abide She were by art then Nature falsify'd Live Primrose then and thrive With thy true number five And women whom this flower doth represent With this mysterious number be content Ten is the farthest number if halfe ten Belongs unto each woman then Each woman may take halfe us men Or if this will not serve their turne Since all Numbers are odde or even and they fall First into this five women may take us all The Relique WHen my grave is broke up againe Some second ghest to entertaine For graves have learn'd that woman-head To be to more then one a Bed And he that digs it spies A bracelet of bright haire about the bone Will he not let'us alone And thinke that there a loving couple lies Who thought that this device might be some way To make their soules at the last busie day Meet at this grave and make a little stay If this fall in a time or land Where mis-devotion doth command Then he that digges us up will bring Us to the Bishop and the King To make us Reliques then Thou shalt be a Mary Magdalen and I A something else thereby All women shall adore us and some men And since at such time miracles are sought I would have that age by this paper taught What miracles wee harmelesse lovers wrought First we lov'd well and faithfully Yet knew not what wee lov'd nor why Difference of sex no more wee new Then our Guardian Angells doe Comming and going wee Perchance might kisse but not between those meales Our hands ne'r toucht the seales Which nature injur'd by late law sets free These miracles wee did but now alas All measure and all language I should passe Should I tell what a miracle shee was The Dampe WHen I am dead and Doctors know not why And my friends curiositie Will have me cut up to survay each part When they shall finde your Picture in my heart You thinke a sodaine dampe of love Will through all their senses move And worke on them as mee and so preferre Your murder to the name of Massacre Poore victories But if you dare be brave And pleasure in your conquest have First kill th'enormous Gyant your Disdaine And let th'enchantresse Honor next be slaine And like a Goth and Vandall rize Deface Records and Histories Of your owne arts and triumphs over men And without such advantage kill me then For I could muster up as well as you My Gyants and my Witches too Which are vast Constancy and Secretnesse But these I neyther looke for nor professe Kill mee as Woman let mee die As a meere man doe you but try Your passive valor and you shall finde than In that you'have odds enough of any man The Dissolution SHee'is dead And all which die To their first Elements resolve And wee were mutuall Elements to us And made of one another My body then doth hers involve And those things whereof I consist hereby In me abundant grow and burdenous And nourish not but smother My fire of Passion sighes of ayre Water of teares and earthly sad despaire Which my materialls bee But ne'r worne out by loves securitie Shee to my losse doth by her death repaire And I might live long wretched so But that my fire doth with my fuell grow Now as those Active Kings Whose foraine conquest treasure brings Receive more and spend more and soonest breake This which I am amaz'd that I can speake This death hath with my store My use encreas'd And so my soule more earnestly releas'd Will outstrip hers As bullets flowen before A latter bullet may o'rtake the pouder being more A Ieat King sent THou art not so black as my heart Nor halfe so brittle as her heart thou art What would'st thou say shall both our properties by thee bee spoke Nothing more endlesse nothing sooner broke Marriage rings are not of this stuffe Oh why should ought lesse precious or lesse tough Figure our loves Except in thy name thou have bid it say I 'am cheap nought but fashion fling me'away Yet stay with mee since thou art come Circle this fingers top which did'st her thombe Be
of all our Soules devotion As vertue was in the first blinded age Are not heavens joyes as valiant to asswage Lusts as earths honour was to them Alas As wee do them in meanes shall they surpasse Us in the end and shall thy fathers spirit Meete blinde Philosophers in heaven whose merit Of strict life may be imputed faith and heare Thee whom hee taught so easie wayes and neare To follow damn'd O if thou dar'st feare this This feare great courage and high valour is Dar'st thou ayd mutinous-Dutch and dar'st thou lay Thee in ships woodden Sepulchers a prey To leaders rage to stormes to shot to dearth Dar'st thou dive seas and dungeons of the earth Hast thou couragious fite to thaw the ice Of frozen North discoueries and thrise Colder then Salamanders like divine Children in th'oven fires of Spaine and the line Whose countries limbecks to our bodies bee Canst thou for gaine beare and must every hee Which cryes not Goddesse to thy Mistresse draw Or eate thy poysonous words courage of straw O desperate coward wilt thou seeme bold and To thy foes and his who made thee to stand Sentinell in his worlds garrison thus yeeld And for forbidden warres leave th' appointed field Know thy foe the foule devill h 'is whom thou Strivest to please for hate not love would allow Thee faine his whole Realme to be quit and as The world 's all parts wither away and passe So the worlds selfe thy other lov'd foe is In her decrepit wayne and thou loving this Dost love a withered and worne strumpet last Flesh it selfe death and joyes which flesh can taste Thou lovest and thy faire goodly soule which doth Give this flesh power to taste joy thou dost loath Seeke true religion O where Mirreus Thinking her unhous'd her and fled from us Seekes her at Rome there because hee doth know That shee was there a thousand yeares agoe He loves the ragges so as wee here obey The statecloth where the Prince sate yesterday Crants to such brave Loves will not be inthrall'd But loves her onely who at Geneva is call'd Religion plaine simple sullen yong Contemptuous yet unhansome As among Lecherous humors there is one that judges No wenches wholsome but course country drudges Graius stayes still at home here and because Some Preachers vile ambitious bauds and lawes Still new like fashions bids him thinke that shee Which dwels with us is onely perfect hee Imbraceth her whom his Godfathers will Tender to him being tender as Wards still Take such wives as their Guardians offer or Pay valewes Carelesse Phrygius doth abhorre All because all cannot be good as one Knowing some women whores dares marry none Graccus loves all as one and thinkes that so As women do in divers countries goe In divers habits yet are still one kinde So doth so is Religion and this blindnesse too much light breeds but unmoved thou Of force must one and forc'd but one allow And the right aske thy father which is shee Let him aske his though truth and falshood bee Neare twins yet truth a little elder is Be busie to seeke her beleeve mee this Hee 's not of none nor worst that seekes the best To adore or scorne an image or protest May all be bad doubt wisely in strange way To stand inquiring right is not to stray To sleepe or runne wrong is on a huge hill Cragg'd and steep Truth stands and hee that will Reach her about must and about must goe And what the hills suddennes resists winne so Yet strive so that before age deaths twilight Thy Soule rest for none can worke in that night To will implyes delay therefore now doe Hard deeds the bodies paines hard knowledge to The mindes indeavours reach and mysteries Are like the Sunne dazling yet plaine to all eyes Keepe the truth which thou hast found men do not stand In so ill case that God hath with his hand Sign'd Kings blanck-charters to kill whom they hate Nor are they Vicars but hangmen to Fate Foole and wretch wilt thou let thy Soule be tyed To mans lawes by which she shall not be tryed At the last day Will it then boot thee To say a Philip or a Gregory A Harry or a Martin taught thee this Is not this excuse for mere contraries Equally strong cannot both sides say so That thou mayest rightly obey power her bounds know Those past her nature name is chang'd to be Then humble to her is idolatrie As streames are Power is those blest flowers that dwell At the rough streames calme head thrive and do well But having left their roots and themselves given To the streames tyrannous rage alas are driven Through mills rockes woods and at last almost Consum'd in going in the sea are lost So perish Soules which more chuse mens unjust Power from God claym'd then God himselfe to trust Satyre IIII. WEll I may now receive and die My sinne Indeed is great but I have beene in A Purgatorie such as fear'd hell is A recreation and scant map of this My minde neither with prides itch nor yet hath been Poyson'd with love to see or to bee seene I had no suit there nor new suite to shew Yet went to Court But as Glaze which did goe To Masse in jest catch'd was faine to disburse The hundred markes which is the Statutes curse Before he scapt So'it pleas'd my destinie Guilty of my sin of going to thinke me As prone to all ill and of good as forgetfull as proud as lustfull and as much in debt As vaine as witlesse and as false as they Which dwell in Court for once going that way Therefore I suffered this Towards me did runne A thing more strange then on Niles slime the Sunne E'r bred or all which into Noahs Arke came A thing which would have pos'd Adam to name Stranger then seaven Antiquaries studies Then Africks Monsters Guianaes rarities Stranger then strangers One who for a Dane In the Danes Massacre had sure beene slaine If he had liv'd then And without helpe dies When next the Prentises'gainst Strangers rise One whom the watch at noone lets scarce goe by One to whom the examining Justice sure would cry Sir by your priesthood tell me what you are His cloths were strāge though coarse black though bare Sleevelesse his jerkin was and it had beene Velvet but 't was now so much ground was seene Become Tufftaffatie and our children shall See it plaine Rashe awhile then nought at all This thing hath travail'd and saith speakes all tongues And only knoweth what to all States belongs Made of th' Accents and best phrase of all these He speakes one language If strange meats displease Art can deceive or hunger force my tast But Pedants motley tongue souldiers bumbast Mountebankes drugtongue nor the termes of law Are strong enough preparatives to draw Me to beare this yet I must be content With his tongue in his tongue call'd complement In which he can win widdowes and
And makes me end where I begunne The good-morrow I Wonder by my troth what thou and I Did till we lov'd were we not wean'd till then But suck'd on countrey pleasures childishly Or snorted we in the seaven sleepers den T' was so But this all pleasures fancies bee If ever any beauty I did see Which I desir'd and got t' was but a dreame of thee And now good morrow to our waking soules Which watch not one another out of feare For love all love of other sights controules And makes one little roome an every where Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone Let Maps to other worlds on worlds have showne Let us possesse one world each hath one and is one My face in thine eye thine in mine appeares And true plaine hearts doe in the faces rest Where can we finde two better hemispheares Without sharpe North without declining West What ever dyes was not mixt equally If our two loves be one or thou and I Love so alike that none doe slacken none can die Song Goe and catche a falling starre Get with child a mandrake roote Tell me where all past yeares are Or who cleft the Divels foot Teach me to heare Mermaides singing Or to keep off envies stinging And finde What winde Serves to advance an honest minde If thou beest borne to strange sights Things invisible to see Ride ten thousand daies and nights Till age snow white haires on thee Thou when thou retorn'st wilt tell mee All strange wonders that befell thee And sweare No where Lives a woman true and faire If thou findst one let mee know Such a Pilgrimage were sweet Yet doe not I would not goe Though at next doore wee might meet Though shee were true when you met her And last till you write your letter Yet shee Will bee False ere I come to two or three Womans constancy NOw thou hast lov'd me one whole day To morrow when thou leav'st what wilt thou say Wilt thou then Antedate some new made vow Or say that now We are not just those persons which we were Or that oathes made in reverentiall feare Of Love and his wrath any may forsweare Or as true deaths true maryages untie So lovers contracts images of those Binde but till sleep deaths image them unloose Or your owne end to Justifie For having purpos'd change and falsehood you Can have no way but falsehood to be true Vaine lunatique against these scapes I could Dispute and conquer if I would Which I abstaine to doe For by to morrow I may thinke so too I Have done one braver thing Then all the worthies did And yet a braver thence doth spring Which is to keepe that hid It were but madnes now t' impart The skill of specular stone When he which can have learn'd the art To cut it can finde none So if I now should utter this Others because no more Such stuffe to worke upon there is Would love but as before But he who lovelinesse within Hath found all outward loathes For he who colour loves and skinne Loves but their oldest clothes If as I have you also doe Vertue ' attir'd in woman see And dare love that and say so too And forget the Hee and Shee And if this love though placed so From prophane men you hide Which will no faith on this bestow Or if they doe deride Then you have done a braver thing Then all the Worthies did And a braver thence will spring Which is to keepe that hid The Sunne Rising BUsie old foole unruly Sunne Why dost thou thus Through windowes and through curtaines call on us Must to thy motions lovers seasons run Sawcy pedantique wretch goe chide Late schoole boyes and sowre prentices Goe tell Court-huntsmen that the King will ride Call countrey ants to harvest offices Love all alike no season knowes nor clyme Nor houres dayes moneths which are the rags of time Thy beames so reverend and strong Why shouldst thou thinke I could eclipse and cloud them with a winke But that I would not lose her sight so long If her eyes have not blinded thine Looke and to morrow late tell mee Whether both the'India's of spice and Myne Be where thou leftst them or lie here with mee Aske for those Kings whom thou saw'st yesterday And thou shalt heare All here in one bed lay She 'is all States and all Princes I Nothing else is Princes doe but play us compar'd to this All honor's mimique All wealth alchimie Thou sunne art halfe as happy'as wee In that the world 's contracted thus Thine age askes ease and since thy duties bee To warme the world that 's done in warming us Shine here to us and thou art every where This bed thy center is these walls thy spheare The Indifferent I Can love both faire and browne Her whom abundance melts and her whom want betraies Her who loves lonenesse best and her who maskes and plaies Her whō the country form'd whō the town Her who beleeves and her who tries Her who still weepes with spungie eyes And her who is dry corke and never cries I can love her and her and you and you I can love any so she be not true Will no other vice content you Wil it not serve your turn to do as did your mothers Or have you all old vices spent and now would finde out others Or doth a feare that men are true torment you Oh we are not be not you so Let mee and doe you twenty know Rob mee but binde me not and let me goe Must I who came to travaile thorow you Grow your fixt subject because you are true Venus heard me sigh this song And by Loves sweetest Part Variety she swore She heard not this till now and that it should be so no more She went examin'd and return'd ere long And said alas Some two or three Poore Heretiques in love there bee Which thinke to stablish dangerous constancie But I have told them since you will be true You shall be true to them who'are false to you Loves Vsury FOr every houre that thou wilt spare mee now I will allow Usurious God of Love twenty to thee When with my browne my gray haires equall bee Till then Love let my body raigne and let Mee travell sojourne snatch plot have forget Resume my last yeares relict thinke that yet We'had never met Let mee thinke any rivalls letter mine And at next nine Keepe midnights promise mistake by the way The maid and tell the Lady of that delay Onely let mee love none no not the sport From country grasse to comfitures of Court Or cities quelque choses let report My minde transport This bargaine 's good if when I 'am old I bee Inflam'd by thee If thine owne honour or my shame or paine Thou cover most at that age thou shalt gaine Doe thy will then then subject and degree And fruit of love Love I submit to thee Spare mee till then I 'll beare it though she bee One that loves
Love let mee Some senslesse peece of this place bee Make me a mandrake so I may grow here Or a stone fountaine weeping out my yeare Hither with christall vyals lovers come And take my teares which are loves wine And try your mistresse Teares at home For all are false that tast not just like mine Alas hearts do not in eyes shine Nor can you more judge womens thoughts by teares Then by her shadow what she weares O perverse sexe where none is true but shee Who 's therefore true because her truth kills mee Valediction to his booke I 'Ll tell thee now deare Love what thou shalt doe To anger destiny as she doth us How I shall stay though she Esloygne me thus And how posterity shall know it too How thine may out-endure Sybills glory and obscure Her who from Pindar could allure And her through whose helpe Lucan is not lame And her whose booke they say Homer did finde and name Study our manuscripts those Myriades Of letters which have past twixt thee and mee Thence write our Annals and in them will bee To all whom loves subliming fire invades Rule and example found There the faith of any ground No schismatique will dare to wound That sees how Love this grace to us affords To make to keep to use to be these his Records This Booke as long-liv'd as the elements Or as the worlds forme this all-graved tome In cypher writ or new made Idiome Wee for loves clergie only'are instruments When this booke is made thus Should againe the ravenous Vandals and the Goths invade us Learning were safe in this our Universe Schooles might learne Sciences Spheares Musick Angels Verse Here Loves Divines since all Divinity Is love or wonder may finde all they seeke Whether abstract spirituall love they like Their Soules exhal'd with what they do not see Or loth so to amuze Faiths infirmitie they chuse Something which they may see and use For though minde be the heaven where love doth sit Beauty a convenient type may be to figure it Here more then in their bookes may Lawyers finde Both by what titles Mistresses are ours And how prerogative these states devours Transferr'd from Love himselfe to womankinde Who though from heart and eyes They exact great subsidies Forsake him who on them relies And for the cause honour or conscience give Chimeraes vaine as they or their prerogative Here Statesmen or of them they which can reade May of their occupation finde the grounds Love and their art alike it deadly wounds If to consider what 't is one proceed In both they doe excell Who the present governe well Whose weaknesse none doth or dares tell In this thy booke such will there something see As in the Bible some can finde out Alchimy Thus vent thy thoughts abroad I 'll studie thee As he removes farre off that great heights takes How great love is presence best tryall makes But absence tryes how long this love will bee To take a latitude Sun or starres are fitliest view'd At their brightest but to conclude Of longitudes what other way have wee But to marke when and where the darke eclipses bee GOod wee must love and must hate ill For ill is ill and good good still But these are things indifferent Which wee may neither hate nor love But one and then another prove As wee shall finde our fancy bent If then at first wise Nature had Made women either good or bad Then some wee might hate and some chuse But since shee did them so create That we may neither love nor hate Onely this rest All all may use If they were good it would be seene Good is as visible as greene And to all eyes it selfe betrayes If they were bad they could not last Bad doth it selfe and others wast So they deserve nor blame nor praise But they are ours as fruits are ours He that but tasts he that devours And he that leaves all doth as well Chang'd loves are but chang'd sorts of meat And when hee hath the kernell eate Who doth not fling away the shell Loves growth I Scarce beleeve my love to be so pure As I had thought it was Because it doth endure Vicissitude and season as the grasse Me thinkes I lyed all winter when I swore My love was infinite if spring make'it more But if this medicine love which cures all sorrow With more not onely bee no quintessence But mixt of all stuffes paining soule or sense And of the Sunne his working vigour borrow Love 's not so pure and abstract as they use To say which have no Mistresse but their Muse But as all else being elemented too Love sometimes would contemplate sometimes do And yet no greater but more eminent Love by the spring is growne As in the firmament Starres by the Sunne are not inlarg'd but showne Gentle love deeds as blossomes on a bough From loves awakened root do bud out now If as in water stir'd more circles bee Produc'd by one love such additions take Those like so many spheares but one heaven make For they are all concentrique unto thee And though each spring doe adde to love new heate As princes doe in times of action get New taxes and remit them not in peace No winter shall abate the springs encrease Loves exchange LOve any devill else but you Would for a given Soule give something too At Court your fellowes every day Give th' art of Riming Huntsmanship or play For them which were their owne before Onely I have nothing which gave more But am alas by being lowly lower I aske no dispensation now To falsifie a teare or sigh or vow I do not sue from thee to draw A non obstante on natures law These are prerogatives they inhere In thee and thine none should forsweare Except that hee Loves minion were Give mee thy weaknesse make mee blinde Both wayes as thou and thine in eies and minde Love let me never know that this Is love or that love childish is Let me not know that others know That she knowes my paines least that so A tender shame make me mine owne new woe If thou give nothing yet thou' art just Because I would not thy first motions trust Small townes which stand stiffe till great shot Enforce them by warres law condition not Such in loves warfare is my case I may not article for grace Having put love at last to shew this face This face by which he could commnd And change the Idolatrie of any land This face which wheresoe'r it comes Can call vow'd men from cloisters dead from tombes And melt both Poles at once and store Deserts with cities and make more Mynes in the earth then Quarries were before For this love is enrag'd with mee Yet kills not if I must example bee To future Rebells If th' unborne Must learne by my being cut up and torne Kill and dissect me Love for this Torture against thine owne end is Rack't carcasses make ill Anatomies SOme man unworthy
but whil'st you thinke you bee Constant you' are hourely in inconstancie Honour may have pretence unto our love Because that God did live so long above Without this Honour and then lov'd it so That he at last made creatures to bestow Honour on him not that he needed it But that to his hands man might grow more fit But since all Honours from inferiours flow For they doe give it Princes doe but shew Whom they would have so honor'd and that this On such opinions and capacities Is built as rise and fall to more and lesse Alas 't is but a casuall happinesse Hath ever any man to'himselfe assign'd This or that happinesse to'arrest his minde But that another man which takes a worse Thinks him a foole for having tane that course They who did labour Babels tower to'erect Might have considered that for that effect All this whole solid Earth could not allow Nor furnish forth materialls enough And that his Center to raise such a place Was farre too little to have beene the Base No more affords this world foundation To erect true joy were all the meanes in one But as the Heathen made them severall gods Of all Gods benefits and all his rods For as the Wine and Corne and Onions are Gods unto them so Agues bee and warre And as by changing that whole precious Gold To such small Copper coynes they lost the old And lost their only God who ever must Be sought alone and not in such a thrust So much mankinde true happinesse mistakes No Joy enjoyes that man that many makes Then Soule to thy first pitch worke up againe Know that all lines which circles doe containe For once that they the Center touch doe touch Twice the circumference and be thou such Double on heaven thy thoughts on earth emploid All will not serve Only who have enjoy'd The sight of God in fulnesse can thinke it For it is both the object and the wit This is essentiall joy where neither hee Can suffer diminution nor wee 'T is such a full and such a filling good Had th'Angels once look'd on him they had stood To fill the place of one of them or more Shee whom wee celebrate is gone before She who had here so much essentiall joy As no chance could distract much lesse destroy Who with Gods presence was acquainted so Hearing and speaking to him as to know His face in any naturall Stone or Tree Better then when in Images they bee Who kept by diligent devotion Gods Image in such reparation Within her heart that what decay was growne Was her first Parents fault and not her owne Who being solicited to any act Still heard God pleading his safe precontract Who by a faithfull confidence was here Betroth'd to God and now is married there Whose twilights were more cleare then our mid-day Who dreamt devoutlier then most use to pray Who being here fil'd with grace yet strove to bee Both where more grace and more capacitie At once is given she to Heaven is gone Who made this world in some proportion A heaven and here became unto us all Joy as our joyes admit essentiall But could this low world joyes essentiall touch Heavens accidentall joyes would passe them much How poore and lame must then our casuall bee If thy Prince will his subjects to call thee My Lord and this doe swell thee thou art than By being greater growne to bee lesse Man When no Physitian of redresse can speake A joyfull casuall violence may breake A dangerous Apostem in thy breast And whil'st thou joyest in this the dangerous rest The bag may rise up and so strangle thee What e'r was casuall may ever bee What should the nature change Or make the same Certaine which was but casuall when it came All casuall joy doth loud and plainly say Only by comming that it can away Only in Heaven joyes strength is never spent And accidentall things are permanent Joy of a soules arrivall ne'r decaies For that soule ever joyes and ever staies Joy that their last great Consummation Approaches in the resurrection When earthly bodies more celestiall Shall be then Angels were for they could fall This kinde of joy doth every day admit Degrees of growth but none of losing it In this fresh joy 't is no small part that shee Shee in whose goodnesse he that names degree Doth injure her 'T is losse to be cal'd best There where the stuffe is not such as the rest Shee who left such a bodie as even shee Only in Heaven could learne how it can bee Made better for shee rather was two soules Or like to full on both sides written Rols Where eyes might reade upon the outward skin As strong Records for God as mindes within Shee who by making full perfection grow Peeces a Circle and still keepes it so Long'd for and longing for it to heaven is gone Where shee receives and gives addition Here in a place where mis-devotion frames A thousand Prayers to Saints whose very names The anciēt Church knew not Heaven knows not yet And where what lawes of Poetry admit Lawes of Religion have at least the same Immortall Maide I might invoke thy name Could any Saint provoke that appetite Thou here should'st make me a french convertite But thou would'st not nor would'st thou be content To take this for my second yeares true Rent Did this Coine beare any other stampe then his That gave thee power to doe me to say this Since his will is that to posteritie Thou should'st for life and death a patterne bee And that the world should notice have of this The purpose and th' authoritie is his Thou art the Proclamation and I am The Trumpet at whose voyce the people came The Extasie WHere like a pillow on a bed A Pregnant banke swel'd up to rest The violets reclining head Sat we two one anothers best Our hands were firmely cimented With a fast balme which thence did spring Our eye-beames twisted and did thred Our eyes upon one double string So to'entergraft our hands as yet Was all the meanes to make us one And pictures in our eyes to get Was all our propagation As 'twixt two equall Armies Fate Suspends uncertaine victorie Our soules which to advance their state Were gone out hung 'twixt her and mee And whil'st our soules negotiate there Wee like sepulchrall statues lay All day the same our postures were And wee said nothing all the day If any so by love refin'd That he soules language understood And by good love were growen all minde Within convenient distance stood He though he knowes not which soule spake Because both meant both spake the same Might thence a new concoction take And part farre purer then he came This Extasie doth unperplex We said and tell us what we love Wee see by this it was not sexe Wee see we saw not what did move But as all severall soules containe Mixture of things they know not what Love these mixt soules doth
justly proud and gladly safe that thou dost dwell with me She that Oh broke her faith would soon breake thee Negative love I Never stoop'd so low as they Which on an eye cheeke lip can prey Seldome to them which soare no higher Then vertue or the minde to'admire For sense and understanding may Know what gives fuell to their fire My love though silly is more brave For may I misse when ere I crave If I know yet what I would have If that be simply perfectest Which can by no way be exprest But Negatives my love is so To All which all love I say no. If any who deciphers best What we know not our selves can know Let him teach mee that nothing This As yet my ease and comfort is Though I speed not I cannot misse The Prohibition TAke heed of loving mee At least remember I forbade it thee Not that I shall repaire my'unthrifty wast Of Breath and Blood upon thy sighes and teares By being to mee then that which thou wast But so great Joy our life at once outweares Then least thy love by my death frustrate bee If thou love mee take heed of loving mee Take heed of hating mee Or too much triumph in the Victorie Not that I shall be mine owne officer And hate with hate againe retaliate But thou wilt lose the stile of conquerour If I thy conquest perish by thy hate Then least my being nothing lessen thee If thou hate mee take heed of hating mee Yet love and hate mee too So these extreames shall ne'r their office doe Love mee that I may die the gentler way Hate mee because thy love is too great for mee Or let these two themselves not me decay So shall I live thy stay not triumph bee Lest thou thy love and hate and mee undoe To let mee live Oh love and hate mee too The Expiration SO so breake off this last'lamenting kisse Which sucks two soules and vapors Both away Turne thou ghost that way and let mee turne this And let our selves benight our happiest day Wee aske none leave to love nor will we owe Any so cheape a death as saying Goe Goe and if that word have not quite kil'd thee Ease mee with death by bidding mee goe too Oh if it have let my word worke on mee And a just office on a murderer doe Except it be too late to kill me so Being double dead going and bidding goe The Computation FOr the first twenty yeares since yesterday I scarce beleev'd thou could'st be gone away For forty more I fed on favours past And forty'on hopes that thou would'st they might last Teares drown'd one hundred and sighes blew out two A thousand I did neither thinke nor doe Or not divide all being one thought of you Or in a thousand more forgot that too Yet call not this long life But thinke that I Am by being dead Immortall Can ghosts die Elegie LAnguage thou art too narrow and too weake To ease us now great sorrow cannot speake If we could sigh out accents and weepe words Griefe weares and lessens that tears breath affords Sad hearts the lesse they seeme the more they are So guiltiest men stand mutest at the barre Not that they know not feele not their estate But extreme sense hath made them desperate Sorrow to whom we owe all that we bee Tyrant in the fift and greatest Monarchy Was 't that she did possesse all hearts before Thou hast kil'd her to make thy Empire more Knew'st thou some would that knew her not lament As in a deluge perish th' innocent Was 't not enough to have that palace wonne But thou must raze it too that was undone Had'st thou staid there and look'd out at her eyes All had ador'd thee that now from thee flies For they let out more light then they tooke in They told not when but did the day beginne She was too Saphirine and cleare to thee Clay flint and jeat now thy fit dwellings be Alas shee was too pure but not too weake Who e'r saw Christall Ordinance but would break And if wee be thy conquest by her fall Th' hast lost thy end for in her perish all Or if we live we live but to rebell They know her better now that knew her well If we should vapour out and pine and die Since shee first went that were not miserie Shee chang'd our world with hers now she is gone Mirth and prosperity is oppression For of all morall vertues she was all The Ethicks speake of vertues Cardinall Her soule was Paradise the Cherubin Set to keepe it was grace that kept out sinne Shee had no more then let in death for wee All reape consumption from one fruitfull tree God tooke her hence lest some of us should love Her like that plant him and his lawes above And when wee teares hee mercy shed in this To raise our mindes to heaven where now she is Who if her vertues would have let her stay Wee'had had a Saint have now a holiday Her heart was that strange bush where sacred fire Religion did not consume but'inspire Such piety so chast use of Gods day That what we turne to feast she turn'd to pray And did prefigure here in devout tast The rest of her high Sabaoth which shall last Angels did hand her up who next God dwell For she was of that order whence most fell Her body left with us lest some had said Shee could not die except they saw her dead For from lesse vertue and lesse beautiousnesse The Gentiles fram'd them Gods and Goddesses The ravenous earth that now woes her to be Earth too will be a Lemnia and the tree That wraps that christall in a wooden Tombe Shall be tooke up spruce fill'd with diamond And we her sad glad friends all beare a part Of griefe for all would waste a Stoicks heart Elegie to the Lady Bedford YOu that are she and you that 's double shee In her dead face halfe of your selfe shall see Shee was the other part for so they doe Which build them friendships become one of two So two that but themselves no third can fit Which were to be so when they were not yet Twinnes though their birth Cusco and Musco take As divers starres one Constellation make Pair'd like two eyes have equall motion so Both but one meanes to see one way to goe Had you dy'd first a carcasse shee had beene And wee your rich Tombe in her face had seene She like the Soule is gone and you here stay Not a live friend but thother halfe of clay And since you act that part As men say here Lies such a Prince when but one part is there And do all honour and devotion due Unto the whole so wee all reverence you For such a friendship who would not adore In you who are all what both was before Not all as if some perished by this But so as all in you contracted is As of this all though many parts decay The pure which
nature put thee in And to deliver up to God that state Of which he gave thee the vicariate Which is thy soule and body as intire As he who takes endeavours doth require But didst not stay t' enlarge his kingdome too By making others what thou didst to doe Why shouldst thou Triumph now when Heav'n no more Hath got by getting thee then t 'had before For Heav'n and thou even when thou livedst here Of one another in possession were But this from Triumph most disables thee That that place which is conquered must bee Left safe from present warre and likely doubt Of imminent commotions to breake out And hath he left us so or can it bee His territory was no more then Hee No we were all his charge the Diocis Of ev'ry exemplar man the whole world is And he was joyned in commission With Tutelar Angels sent to every one But though this freedome to upbraid and chide Him who Triumph'd were lawfull it was ty'd With this that it might never reference have Unto the Senate who this triumph gave Men might at Pompey jeast but they might not At that authoritie by which he got Leave to Triumph before by age he might So though triumphant soule I dare to write Mov'd with a reverentiall anger thus That thou so earely wouldst abandon us Yet I am farre from daring to dispute With that great soveraigntie whose absolute Prerogative hath thus dispens'd with thee ' Gainst natures lawes which just impugners bee Of early triumphs And I though with paine Lessen our losse to magnifie thy gaine Of triumph when I say It was more fit That all men should lacke thee then thou lack it Though then in our time be not suffered That testimonie of love unto the dead To die with them and in their graves be hid As Saxon wives and French soldarii did And though in no degree I can expresse Griefe in great Alexanders great excesse Who at his friends death made whole townes devest Their walls and bullwarks which became them best Doe not faire soule this sacrifice refuse That in thy grave I doe interre my Muse Who by my griefe great as thy worth being cast Behind hand yet hath spoke and spoke her last Elegie AS the sweet sweat of Roses in a Still As that which frō chaf'd muskats pores doth trill As the Almighty Balme of th' early East Such are the sweat drops of my Mistris breast And on her necke her skin such lustre sets They seeme no sweat drops but pearle coronets Ranke sweaty froth thy Mistresse's brow defiles Like spermatique issue of ripe menstruous boiles Or like the skumme which by needs lawlesse law Enforc'd Sanserra's starved men did draw From parboild shooes and bootes and all the rest Which were with any soveraigne fatnes blest And like vile stones lying in saffrond tinne Or warts or wheales it hangs upon her skinne Round as the world 's her head on every side Like to the fatall Ball which fell on Ide Or that whereof God had such jealousie As for the ravishing thereof we die Thy head is like a rough-hewne statue of jeat Where marks for eyes nose mouth are yet scarce set Like the first Chaos or flat seeming face Of Cynthia when th' earths shadowes her embrace Like Proserpines white beauty-keeping chest Or Joues best fortunes urne is her faire brest Thine's like worme eaten trunkes cloth'd in seals skin Or grave that 's dust without and stinke within And like that slender stalke at whose end stands The wood-bine quivering are her armes and hands Like rough bark'd elmboughes or the russet skin Of men late scurg'd for madnes or for sinne Like Sun-parch'd quarters on the citie gate Such is thy tann'd skins lamentable state And like a bunch of ragged carrets stand The short swolne fingers of her gouty hand Then like the Chymicks masculine equall fire Which in the Lymbecks warme wombe doth inspire Into th' earths worthlesse part a soule of gold Such cherishing heat her best lov'd part doth hold Thine's like the dread mouth of a fired gunne Or like hot liquid metalls newly runne Into clay moulds or like to that Aetna Where round about the grasse is burnt away Are not your kisses then as filthy and more As a worme sucking an invenom'd sore Doth not thy fearefull hand in feeling quake As one which gath'ring flowers still feares a snake Is not your last act harsh and violent As where a Plough a stony ground doth rent So kisse good Turtles so devoutly nice Are Priests in handling reverent sacrifice And nice in searching wounds the Surgeon is As wee when wee embrace or touch or kisse Leave her and I will leave comparing thus She and comparisons are odious Elegie The Autumnall NO Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace As I have seen in one Autumnall face Yong Beauties force our love and that 's a Rape This doth but counsaile yet you cannot scape If t' were a shame to love here t' were no shame Affections here take Reverences name Were her first yeares the Golden Age That 's true But now they' are gold oft tried and ever new That was her torrid and inflaming time This is her tolerable Tropique clyme Faire eyes who askes more heate then comes from hence He in a fever wishes pestilence Call not these wrinkles graves If graves they were They were Loves graves for else he is no where Yet lies not love dead here but here doth sit Vow'd to this trench like an Anachorit And here till hers which must be his death come He doth not digge a Grave but build a Tombe Iere dwells he though he sojourne ev'ry where In Progresse yet his standing house is here Iere where still Evening is not noone nor night Where no voluptuousnesse yet all delight In all her words unto all hearers fit You may at Revels you at counsaile sit This is loves timber youth his under-wood There he as wine in Iune enrages blood Which then comes seasonabliest when our tast And appetite to other things is past Xerxes strange Lydian love the Platane tree Was lov'd for age none being so large as shee Or else because being yong nature did blesse Her youth with ages glory Barrennesse If we love things long sought Age is a thing Which we are fifty yeares in compassing If transitory things which soone decay Age must be lovelyest at the latest day But name not Winter-faces whose skin 's slacke Lanke as an unthrifts purse but a soules sacke Whose Eyes seeke light within for all here 's shade Whose mouthes are holes rather worne out then made Whos 's every tooth to a severall place is gone To vexe their soules at Resurrection Name not these living Deaths-heads unto mee For these not Ancient but Antique be I hate extreames yet I had rather stay With Tombs then Cradles to weare out a day Since such loves motion natural is may still My love descend and journey downe the hill Not panting after growing beauties so I shall ebbe out
From hearing bold wits jeast at Kings excesse To'admit the like of majestie divine That we may locke our eares Lord open thine XXVI That living law the Magistrate Which to give us and make us physicke doth Our vices often aggravate That Preachers taxing sinne before her growth That Satan and invenom'd men Which well if we starve dine When they doe most accuse us may see then Us to amendment heare them thee decline That we may open our eares Lord lock thine XXVII That learning thine Ambassador From thine allegeance wee never tempt That beauty paradises flower For physicke made from poyson be exempt That wit borne apt high good to doe By dwelling lazily On Natures nothing be not nothing too That our affections kill us not nor dye Heare us weake ecchoes O thou eare and cry XXVIII Sonne of God heare us and since thou By taking our blood owest it us againe Gaine to thy selfe or us allow And let not both us and thy selfe be slaine O lambe of God which took'st our sinne Which could not stick to thee O let it not returne to us againe But Patient and Physition being free As sinne is nothing let it no where be SEnd home my long strayd eyes to mee Which Oh too long have dwelt on thee Yet since there they have learn'd such ill Such forc'd fashions And false passions That they be Made by thee Fit for no good sight keep them still Send home my harmlesse heart againe Which no unworthy thought could staine Which if it be taught by thine To make jestings Of protestings And breake both Word and oath Keepe it for then 't is none of mine Yet send me back my heart and eyes That I may know and see thy lyes And may laugh and joy when thou Art in anguish And dost languish For some one That will none Or prove as false as thou art now A nocturnall upon S. Lucies day Being the shortest day T Is the yeares midnight and it is the dayes Lucies who scarce seaven houres herself unmaskes The Sunne is spent and now his flasks Send forth light squibs no constant rayes The worlds whole sap is sunke The generall balme th'hydroptique earth hath drunk Whither as to the beds-feet life is shrunke Dead and enterr'd yet all these seeme to laugh Compar'd with mee who am their Epitaph Study me then you who shall lovers bee At the next world that is at the next Spring For I am every dead thing In whom love wrought new Alchimie For his art did expresse A quintessence even from nothingnesse From dull privations and leane emptinesse He ruin'd mee and I am re-begot Of absence darknesse death things which are not All others from all things draw all that 's good Life soule forme spirit whence they beeing have I by loves limbecke am the grave Of all that 's nothing Oft a flood Have wee two wept and so Drownd the whole world us two oft did we grow To be two Chaosses when we did show Care to ought else and often absences Withdrew our soules and made us carcasses But I am by her death which word wrongs her Of the first nothing the Elixer grown Were I a man that I were one I needs must know I should preferre If I were any beast Some ends some means Yea plants yea stones detest And love all all some properties invest If I an ordinary nothing were As shadow a light and body must be here But I am None nor will my Sunne renew You lovers for whose sake the lesser Sunne At this time to the Goat is runne To fetch new lust and give it you Enjoy your summer all Since shee enjoyes her long nights festivall Let mee prepare towards her and let mee call This houre her Vigill and her eve since this Both the yeares and the dayes deep midnight is Witchcraft by a picture I Fixe mine eye on thine and there Pitty my picture burning in thine eye My picture drown'd in a transparent teare When I looke lower I espie Hadst thou the wicked skill By pictures made and mard to kill How many wayes mightst thou performe thy will But now I have drunke thy sweet salt teares And though thou poure more I 'll depart My picture vanish'd vanish feares That I can be endamag'd by that art Though thou retaine of mee One picture more yet that will bee Being in thine owne heart from all malice free COme live with mee and bee my love And wee will some new pleasures prove Of golden sands and christall brookes With silken lines and silver hookes There will the river whispering runne Warm'd by thy eyes more then the Sunne And there the'inamor'd fish will stay Begging themselves they may betray When thou wilt swimme in that live bath Each fish which every channell hath Will amorously to thee swimme Gladder to catch thee then thou him If thou to be so seene beest loath By Sunne or Moone thou darknest both And if my selfe have leave to see I need not their light having thee Let others freeze with angling reeds And cut their legges which shells and weeds Or treacherously poore fish beset With strangling snare or windowie net Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest The bedded fish in banks out-wrest Or curious traitors sleavesicke flies Bewitch poore fishes wandring eyes For thee thou needst no such deceit For thou thy selfe art thine owne bait That fish that is not catch'd thereby Alas is wiser farre then I. The Apparition WHen by thy scorne O murdresse I am dead And that thou thinkst thee free From all solicitation from mee Then shall my ghost come to thy bed And thee fain'd vestall in worse armes shall see Then thy sicke taper will begin to winke And he whose thou art then being tyr'd before Will if thou stirre or pinch to wake him thinke Thou call'st for more And in false sleepe will from thee shrinke And then poore Aspen wretch neglected thou Bath'd in a cold quicksilver sweat wilt lye A veryer ghost then I What I will say I will not tell thee now Lest that preserve thee ' and since my love is spent I 'had rather thou shouldst painfully repent Then by my threatnings rest still innocent Dull sublunary lovers love Whose soule is sense cannot admit Absence because it doth remove Those things which elemented it But we by a love so much refin'd That our selves know not what it is Inter-assured of the mind Care lesse eyes lips hands to misse Our two soules therefore which are one Though I must goe endure not yet A breach but an expansion Like gold to ayery thinnesse beate If they be two they are two so As stiffe twin compasses are two Thy soule the fixt foot makes no show To move but doth if the'other doe And though it in the center sit Yet when the other far doth rome It leanes and hearkens after it And growes erect as that comes home Such wilt thou be to mee who must Like th' other foot obliquely runne Thy firmnes makes my circle just
to be possessor Of old or new love himselfe being false or weake Thought his paine and shame would be lesser If on womankind he might his anger wreake And thence a law did grow One might but one man know But are other creatures so Are Sunne Moone or Starres by law forbidden To smile where they list or lend away their light Are birds divorc'd or are they chidden If they leave their mate or lie abroad a night Beasts doe no joyntures lose Though they new lovers choose But we are made worse then those Who e'r rigg'd faire ship to lie in harbors And not to seeke new lands or not to deale withall Or built faire houses set trees and arbors Only to lock up or else to let them fall Good is not good unlesse A thousand it possesse But doth wast with greedinesse The Dreame DEare love for nothing lesse then thee Would I have broke this happy dreame It was a theame For reason much too strong for phantasie Therefore thou wakd'st me wisely yet My Dreame thou brok'st not but continued'st it Thou art so truth that thoughts of thee suffice To make dreames truths and fables histories Enter these armes for since thou thoughtst it best Not to dreame all my dreame let 's act the rest As lightning or a Tapers light Thine eyes and not thy noise wak'd mee Yet I thought thee For thou lovest truth an Angell at first sight But when I saw thou sawest my heart And knew'st my thoughts beyond an Angels art When thou knew'st what I dreamt whē thou knew'st whē Excesse of joy would wake me and cam'st then I must confesse it could not chuse but bee Prophane to thinke thee any thing but thee Comming and staying show'd thee thee But rising makes me doubt that now Thou art not thou That love is weake where feare 's as strong as hee 'T is not all spirit pure and brave If mixture it of Feare Shame Honor have Perchance as torches which must ready bee Men light and put out so thou deal'st with mee Thou cam'st to kindle goest to come Then I Will dreame that hope againe but else would die A Valediction of weeping LEt me powre forth My teares before thy face whil'st I stay here For thy face coines them and thy stampe they beare And by this Mintage they are something worth For thus they bee Pregnant of thee Fruits of much griefe they are emblemes of more When a teare falls that thou falst which it bore So thou and I are nothing then when on a divers shore On a round ball A workeman that hath copies by can lay An Europe Afrique and an Asia And quickly make that which was nothing All So doth each teare Which thee doth weare A globe yea world by that impression grow Till thy teares mixt with mine doe overflow This world by waters sent from thee my heaven dissolved so O more then Moone Draw not up seas to drowne me in thy spheare Weepe me not dead in thine armes but forbeare To teach the sea what it may doe too soone Let not the winde Example finde To doe me more harme then it purposeth Since thou and I sigh one anothers breath Who e'r sighes most is cruellest and hasts the others death Loves Alchymie SOme that have deeper digg'd loves Myne then I Say where his centrique happinesse doth lie I have lov'd and got and told But should I love get tell till I were old I should not finde that hidden mysterie Oh 't is imposture all And as no chymique yet th'Elixar got But glorifies his pregnant pot If by the way to him befall Some odoriferous thing or medicinall So lovers dreame a rich and long delight But get a winter-seeming summers night Our ease our thrift our honor and our day Shall we for this vaine Bubles shadow pay Ends love in this that my man Can be as happy'as I can If he can Endure the short scorne of a Bridegroomes play That loving wretch that sweares 'T is not the bodies marry but the mindes Which he in her Angelique findes Would sweare as justly that he heares In that dayes rude hoarse minstralsey the spheares Hope not for minde in women at their best Sweetnesse and wit they' are but Mummy possest The Flea MArke but this flea and marke in this How little that which thou deny'st me is It suck'd me first and now sucks thee And in this flea our two bloods mingled bee Thou know'st that this cannot be said A sinne nor shame nor losse of maidenhead Yet this enjoyes before it wooe And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two And this alas is more then wee would doe Oh stay three lives in one flea spare Where wee almost yea more then maryed are This flea is you and I and this Our mariage bed and mariage temple is Though parents grudge and you w' are met And cloysterd in these living walls of Jet Though use make you apt to kill mee Let not to that selfe murder added bee And sacrilege three sinnes in killing three Cruell and sodaine hast thou since Purpled thy naile in blood of innocence Wherein could this flea guilty bee Except in that drop which it suckt from thee Yet thou triumph'st and saist that thou Find'st not thy selfe nor mee the weaker now 'T is true then learne how false feares bee Just so much honor when thou yeeld'st to mee Will wast as this flea's death tooke life from thee The Curse WHo ever guesses thinks or dreames he knowes Who is my mistris wither by this curse His only and only his purse May some dull heart to love dispose And shee yeeld then to all that are his foes May he be scorn'd by one whom all else scorne Forsweare to others what to her he' hath sworne With feare of missing shame of getting torne Madnesse his sorrow gout his cramp may hee Make by but thinking who hath made him such And may he feele no touch Of conscience but of fame and bee Anguish'd not that 't was sinne but that 't was shee In early and long scarcenesse may he rot For land which had been his if he had not Himselfe incestuously an heire begot May he dreame Treason and beleeve that hee Meant to performe it and confesse and die And no record tell why His sonnes which none of his may bee Inherite nothing but his infamie Or may he so long Parasites have fed That he would faine be theirs whom he hath bred And at the last be circumcis'd for bread The venom of all stepdames gamsters gall What Tyrans and their subjects interwish What Plants Myne Beasts Foule Fish Can contribute all ill which all Prophets or Poets spake And all which shall Be annex'd in schedules unto this by mee Fall on that man For if it be a shee Nature before hand hath out-cursed mee AN ANATOMIE OF THE WORLD Wherein By occasion of the untimely death of Mistris ELIZABETH DRVRY the frailty and the decay of this whole World is represented The first Anniversary
elemented them shall stay And though diffus'd and spread in infinite Shall recollect and in one All unite So madame as her Soule to heaven is fled Her flesh rests in the earth as in the bed Her vertues do as to their proper spheare Returne to dwell with you of whom they were As perfect motions are all circular So they to you their sea whence lesse streames are Shee was all spices you all metalls so In you two wee did both rich Indies know And as no fire nor rust can spend or waste One dramme of gold but what was first shall last Though it bee forc'd in water earth salt aire Expans'd in infinite none will impaire So to your selfe you may additions take But nothing can you lesse or changed make Seeke not in seeking new to seeme to doubt That you can can match her or not be without But let some faithfull booke in her roome be Yet but of Iudith no such booke as shee Elegie TO make the doubt cleare that no woman's true Was it my fate to prove it strong in you Thought I but one had breathed purest aire And must she needs be false because she 's faire Is it your beauties marke or of your youth Or your perfection not to study truth Or thinke you heaven is deafe or hath no eyes Or those it hath smile at your perjuries Are vowes so cheape with women or the matter Whereof they are made that they are writ in water And blowne away with winde Or doth their breath Both hot and cold at once make life and death Who could have thought so many accents sweet Form'd into words so many sighs should meete As from our hearts so many oathes and teares Sprinkled among all sweeter by our feares And the divine impression of stolne kisses That seal'd the rest should now prove empty blisses Did you draw bonds to forfet signe to breake Or must we reade you quite from what you speake And finde the truth out the wrong way or must Hee first desire you false would wish you just O I prophane though most of women be This kinde of beast my thought shall except thee My dearest Love though froward jealousie With circumstance might urge thy'inconstancie Sooner I 'll thinke the Sunne will cease to cheare The teeming earth and that forget to beare Sooner that rivers will runne back or Thames With ribs of Ice in June would bind his streames Or Nature by whose strength the world endures Would change her course before you alter yours But O that treacherous breast to whom weake you Did trust our Counsells and wee both may rue Having his falshood found too late 't was hee That made me cast you guilty and you me Whilst he black wrech betray'd each simple word Wee spake unto the cunning of a third Curst may hee be that so our love hath slaine And wander on the earth wretched as Cain Wretched as hee and not deserve least pitty In plaguing him let misery be witty Let all eyes shunne him and hee shunne each eye Till hee be noysome as his infamie May he without remorse deny God thrice And not be trusted more on his Soules price And after all selfe torment when hee dyes May Wolves teare out his heart Vultures his eyes Swine eate his bowels and his falser tongue That utter'd all be to some Raven flung And let his carrion coarse be a longer feast To the Kings dogges then any other beast Now have I curst let us our love revive In mee the flame was never more alive I could beginne againe to court and praise And in that pleasure lengthen the short dayes Of my lifes lease like Painters that do take Delight not in made worke but whiles they make I could renew those times when first I saw Love in your eyes that gave my tongue the law To like what you lik'd and at maskes and playes Commend the selfe same Actors the same wayes Aske how you did and often with intent Of being officious be impertinent All which were such soft pastimes as in these Love was as subtilly catch'd as a disease But being got it is a treasure sweet Which to defend is harder then to get And ought not be prophan'd on either part For though 't is got by chance 't is kept by art NO Lover saith I love nor any other Can judge a perfect Lover Hee thinkes that else none can or will agree That any loves but hee I cannot say I lov'd for who can say Hee was kill'd yesterday Love with excesse of heat more yong then old Death kills with too much cold Wee dye but once and who lov'd last did die Hee that saith twice doth lye For though hee seeme to move and stirre a while It doth the sense beguile Such life is like the light which bideth yet When the lifes light is set Or like the heat which fire in solid matter Leaves behinde two houres after Once I love and dyed and am now become Mine Epitaph and Tombe Here dead men speake their last and so do I Love-slaine loe here I dye A Hymne to Christ at the Authors last going into Germany IN what torne ship soever I embarke That ship shall be my embleme of thy Arke What sea soever swallow mee that flood Shall be to mee an embleme of thy blood Though thou with clouds of anger do disguise Thy face yet through that maske I know those eyes Which though they turne away sometimes They never will despise I sacrifice this Iland unto thee And all whom I lov'd there and who lov'd mee When I have put our seas twixt them and mee Put thou thy seas betwixt my sinnes and thee As the trees sap doth seeke the root below In winter in my winter now I goe Where none but thee th' Eternall root Of true Love I may know Nor thou nor thy religion dost controule The amorousnesse of an harmonious Soule But thou would'st have that love thy selfe As thou Art jealous Lord so I am jealous now Thou lov'st not till from loving more thou free My soule Who ever gives takes libertie O if thou car'st not whom I love Alas thou lov'st not mee Seale then this bill of my Divorce to All On whom those fainter beames of love did fall Marry those loves which in youth scattered bee On Fame Wit Hopes false mistresses to thee Churches are best for Prayer that have least light To see God only I goe out of sight And to scape stormy dayes I chuse An Everlasting night The Lamentations of Ieremy for the most part according to Tremelius CHAP. I. 1 HOw sits this citie late most populous Thus solitary and like a widdow thus Amplest of Nations Queene of Provinces She was who now thus tributary is 2 Still in the night shee weepes and her teares fall Downe by her cheekes along and none of all Her lovers comfort her Perfidiously Her friends have dealt and now are enemie 3 Unto great bondage and afflictions Juda is captive led Those nations
forbeare To come abroad knowing Thou art not here Late her great Patron Whose Prerogative Maintain'd and cloth'd her so as none alive Must now presume to keepe her at thy rate Though he the Indies for her dowre estate Or else that awfull fire which once did burne In thy cleare Braine now falne into thy Urne Lives there to fright rude Empiricks from thence Which might prophane thee by their Ignorance Who ever writes of Thee and in a stile Unworthy such a Theme does but revile Thy precious Dust and wake a learned Spirit Which may revenge his Rapes upon thy Merit For all a low pitch't phansie can devise Will prove at best but Hallow'd Injuries Thou like the dying Swanne didst lately sing Thy Mournfull Dirge in audience of the King When pale lookes and faint accents of thy breath Presented so to life that peece of death That it was fear'd and prophesi'd by all Thou thither cam'st to preach thy Funerall O! had'st Thou in an Elegiacke Knell Rung out unto the world thine owne farewell And in thy High Victorious Numbers beate The solemne measure of thy griev'd Retreat Thou might'st the Poets service now have mist As well as then thou did'st prevent the Priest And never to the world beholding bee So much as for an Epitaph for thee I doe not like the office Nor is 't fit Thou who did'st lend our Age such summes of wit Should'st now re-borrow from her bankrupt Mine That Ore to Bury Thee which once was Thine Rather still leave us in thy debt And know Exalted Soule more glory 't is to owe Unto thy Hearse what we can never pay Then with embased Coine those Rites defray Commit we then Thee to Thy selfe Nor blame Our drooping loves which thus to thy owne Fame Leave Thee Executour Since but thine owne No pen could doe Thee Justice nor Bayes Crowne Thy vast desert Save that wee nothing can Depute to be thy Ashes Guardian So Jewellers no Art or Metall trust To forme the Diamond but the Diamonds dust H. K. To the deceased Author Upon the Promiscuous printing of his Poems the Looser sort with the Religious WHen thy Loose raptures Donne shall meet with Those That doe confine Tuning unto the Duller line And sing not but in Sanctified Prose How will they with sharper eyes The Fore-skinne of thy phansie circumcise And feare thy wantonnesse should now begin Example that hath ceased to be Sin And that Feare fannes their Heat whilst knowing eyes Will not admire At this Strange Fire That here is mingled with thy Sacrifice But dare reade even thy Wanton Story As thy Confession not thy Glory And will so envie Both to future times That they would buy thy Goodnesse with thy Crimes Tho Browne On the death of Dr DONNE I Cannot blame those men that knew thee well Yet dare not helpe the world to ring thy knell In tunefull Elegies there 's not language knowne Fit for thy mention but 't was first thy owne The Epitaphs thou writst have so bereft Our tongue of wit there is not phansie left Enough to weepe thee what henceforth we see Of Art or Nature must result from thee There may perchance some busie gathering friend Steale from thy owne workes and that varied lend Which thou bestow'st on others to thy Hearse And so thou shalt live still in thine owne verse Hee that shall venture farther may commit A pitied errour shew his zeale not wit Fate hath done mankinde wrong vertue may aime Reward of conscience never can of fame Since her great trumpet's broke could onely give Faith to the world command it to beleeve Hee then must write that world define thy parts Here lyes the best Divinitie All the Arts. Edw. Hyde On Doctor Donne By Dr C. B. of O. HEe that would write an Epitaph for thee And do it well must first beginne to be Such as thou wert for none can truly know Thy worth thy life but he that hath liv'd so He must have wit to spare and to hurle downe Enough to keepe the gallants of the towne He must have learning plenty both the Lawes Civill and Common to judge any cause Divinity great store above the rest Not of the last Edition but the best Hee must have language travaile all the Arts Judgement to use or else he wants thy parts He must have friends the highest able to do Such as Mecoenas and Augustus too He must have such a sicknesse such a death Or else his vaine descriptions come beneath Who then shall write an Epitaph for thee He must be dead first let'it alone for mee An Elegie upon the incomparable Dr DONNE ALl is not well when such a one as I Dare peepe abroad and write an Elegie When smaller Starres appeare and give their light Phoebus is gone to bed Were it not night And the world witlesse now that DONNE is dead You sooner should have broke then seene my head Dead did I say Forgive this Injury I doe him and his worthes Infinity To say he is but dead I dare averre It better may be term'd a Massacre Then Sleepe or Death See how the Muses mourne Upon their oaten Reeds and from his Vrne Threaten the World with this Calamity They shall have Ballads but no Poetry Language lyes speechlesse and Divinity Lost such a Trump as even to Extasie Could charme the Soule and had an Influence To teach best judgements and please dullest Sense The Court the Church the Vniversitie Lost Chaplaine Deane and Doctor All these Three It was his Merit that his Funerall Could cause a losse so great and generall If there be any Spirit can answer give Of such as hence depart to such as live Speake Doth his body there vermiculate Crumble to dust and feele the lawes of Fate Me thinkes Corruption Wormes what else is foule Should spare the Temple of so faire a Soule I could beleeve they doe but that I know What inconvenience might hereafter grow Succeeding ages would Idolatrize And as his Numbers so his Reliques prize If that Philosopher which did avow The world to be but Mores was living now He would affirme that th' Atomes of his mould Were they in severall bodies blended would Produce new worlds of Travellers Divines Of Linguists Poets sith these severall Lines In him concentred were and flowing thence Might fill againe the worlds Circumference I could beleeve this too and yet my faith Not want a President The Phoenix hath And such was He a power to animate Her ashes and herselfe perpetuate But busie Soule thou dost not well to pry Into these Secrets Griefe and Iealousie The more they know the further still advance And finde no way so safe as Ignorance Let this suffice thee that his Soule which flew A pitch of all admir'd known but of few Save those of purer mould is now translated From Earth to Heavên and there Constellated For if each Priest of God shine as a Starre His Glory is as his Gifts 'bove others farre HEN. VALENTINE An Elegie upon