* 109 *

ANTHEA'S RETRACTATION

ANTHEA laugh'd, and, fearing lest excess
Might stretch the cords of civil comeliness,
She with a dainty blush rebuked her face,
And call'd each line back to his rule and space.

* 110

LOVE LIGHTLY PLEASED

LET fair or foul my mistress be,
Or low, or tall, she pleaseth me;
Or let her walk, or stand, or sit,
The posture her's, I'm pleased with it;
Or let her tongue be still, or stir,
Graceful is every thing from her ;
Or let her grant, or else deny,
My love will fit each history.

* III *

TO DIANEME

GIVE me one kiss,
And no more:

If so be, this
Makes you poor

To enrich you,
I'll restore

For that one, two-
Thousand score.

* 112 *

UPON HER EYES

CLEAR are her eyes,
Like purest skies;

Discovering from thence
A baby there

That turns each sphere,

Like an Intelligence.

*113*

UPON HER FEET

HER pretty feet
Like snails did creep

A little out, and then,
As if they played at Bo-peep,
Did soon draw in again.

-AND, cruel maid, because I see
You scornful of my love, and me,
I'll trouble you no more, but go
My way, where you shall never know
What is become of me; there I
Will find me out a path to die,
Or learn some way how to forget
You and your name for ever;-yet
Ere I go hence, know this from me,
What will in time your fortune be;
This to your coyness I will tell;
And having spoke it once, Farewell.
--The lily will not long endure,
Nor the snow continue pure ;
The rose, the violet, one day
See both these lady-flowers decay;
And you must fade as well as they.
And it may chance that love may turn,
And, like to mine, make your heart burr
And weep to see't; yet this thing do,
That my last vow commends to you ;
When you shall see that I am dead,
For pity let a tear be shed;
And, with your mantle o'er me cast,
Give my cold lips a kiss at last;
If twice you kiss, you need not fear
That I shall stir or live more here.
Next hollow out a tomb to cover
Me, me, the most despiséd lover;
And write thereon, This, reader, know:
Love kill'd this man. No more, but so

* 116*

To His MISTRESS, OBJECTING TO 111M NEITHER TOYING OR TALKING

You say I love not, 'cause I do not play

Still with your curls, and kiss the time away.
You blame me, too, because I can't devise
Some sport, to please those babies in your eyes ;--
By Love's religion, I must here confess it,
The most I love, when I the least express it.
Small griefs find tongues; full casks are ever found
To give, if any, yet but little sound.

Deep waters noiseless are ; and this we know,
That chiding streams betray small depth below.
So when love speechless is, she doth express
A depth in love, and that depth bottomless.
Now, since my love is tongueless, know me such,
Who speak but little, 'cause I love so much.

* 117 *

IMPOSSIBILITIES:

TO HIS FRIEND

My faithful friend, if you can see
The fruit to grow up, or the tree;
If you can see the colour come
Into the blushing pear or plum ;
If you can see the water grow
To cakes of ice, or flakes of snow;