The act, I must confess, was wise
As a dishonest act could be:
Well knew the tongue, alas! your eyes
Would be too strong for that and me ;
And part o' the' triumph chose to get,
Rather than be a part of it.
RESOLVED TO BE BELOVED.
"Tis true, l'ave loved already three or four, And shall three or four hundred more; I'll love each fair-one that I see,
Till I find one at last that shall love me.
That shall my Canaan be, the fatal soil
That ends my wanderings and my toil:
I'll settle there, and happy grow
The country does with milk and honey flow.
The needle trembles so, and turns about,
Till it the northern point find out;
But constant then and fix'd does prove, Fix'd, that his dearest pole as soon may move.
Then may my vessel torn and shipwreck'd be,
If it put forth again to sea!
It never more abroad shall roam,
Though 't could next voyage bring the Indies home.
But I must sweat in love, and labour yet,
Till I a competency get;
They're slothful fools who leave a trade,
Till they a moderate fortune by't have made.
Variety I ask not; give me one
To live perpetually upon ;
The person Love does to us fit,
Like manna, has the taste of all in it.
FOR Heaven's sake, what d' you mean to do? Keep me, or let me go, one of the two;
Youth and warm hours let me not idly lose,
The little time that Love does choose;
If always here I must not stay,
Let me be gone whilst yet 'tis day;
Lest I, faint and benighted, lose my way.
'Tis dismal, one so long to love
In vain, till to love more as vain must prove;
To hunt so long on nimble prey,
Too weary to take others be:
Alas! 'tis folly to remain,
And waste our army thus in vain, Before a city which will ne'er be ta’en.
At several hopes wisely to fly, Ought not to be esteem'd inconstancy; "Tis more inconstant always to pursue
A thing that always flies from you;
For that at last may meet a bound,
But no end can to this be found,
'Tis nought but a perpetual fruitless round.
When it does hardness meet, and pride,
My love does then rebound to' another side;
But, if it aught that's soft and yielding hit,
It lodges there, and stays in it.
Whatever 'tis shall first love me,
That it my heaven may truly be,
I shall be sure to give❜t eternity.
THE DISCOVERY.
By Heaven, I'll tell her boldly that 'tis she;
Why should she ashamed or angry be,
To be beloved by me?
The Gods may give their altars o'er;
They'll smoke but seldom any more,
If none but happy men must them adore.
The lightning, which tall oaks oppose in vain,
To strike sometimes does not disdain
The humble furzes of the plain.
She being so high, and I so low,
Her power by this does greater show,
Who at such a distance gives so sure a blow.
Compared with her, all things so worthless prove, That nought on earth can towards her move, Till 't be exalted by her love.
Equal to her, alas! there's none;
She like a Deity is grown;
That must create, or else must be alone.
If there be man who thinks himself so high
As to pretend equality,
He deserves her less than I;
For he would cheat for his relief;
And one would give, with lesser grief, To' an undeserving beggar than a thief.
AGAINST FRUITION.
No; thou'rt a fool, I'll swear, if e'er thou grant:
Much of my veneration thou must want,
When once thy kindness puts my ignorance out;
For a learn'd age is always least devout.
Keep still thy distance; for at once to me
Goddess and woman too thou canst not be:
Thou'rt queen of all that sees thee, and as such
Must neither tyrannize nor yield too much;
Such freedoms give as may admit command,
But keep the forts and magazines in hand.
Thou'rt yet a whole world to me, and dost fill
My large ambition; but 'tis dangerous still,
Lest I like the Pellaan prince should be,
And weep for other worlds, having conquer'd thee:
When Love has taken all thou hast away,
His strength by too much riches will decay.
Thou in my fancy dost much higher stand,
Than women can be placed by Nature's hand;
And I must needs, I'm sure, a loser be,
To change thee, as thorit
there, for very thee. Thy sweetness so much within me placed,
That, shouldst thou nectar give, 'twould spoil the
Beauty at first moves wonder and delight;
"Tis Nature's juggling trick to cheat the sight.
We' admire it whilst unknown; but after, more
Admire ourselves for liking it before.
Love, like a greedy hawk, if we give way,
Does over-gorge himself with his own prey;
Of very hopes a surfeit he'll sustain,
Unless by fears he cast them up again :
His spirit and sweetness dangers keep alone;
If once he lose his sting, he grows a drone.
SOME others may with safety tell
The moderate flames which in them dwell;
And either find some medicine there,
Or cure themselves even by despair;
My love's so great, that it might prove
Dangerous to tell her that I love.
So tender is my wound, it must not bear
Any salute, though of the kindest air.
I would not have her know the pain,
The torments, for her I sustain ;
Lest too much goodness make her throw
Her love upon a fate too low.
Forbid it, Heaven! my life should be
Weigh'd with her least conveniency:
No, let me perish rather with my grief,
Than, to her disadvantage, find relief!
Yet, when I die, my last breath shall
Grow bold, and plainly tell her all:
Like covetous men, who ne'er descry
Their dear hid-treasures till they die.
Ah, fairest maid! how will it cheer
My ghost, to get from thee a tear!
But take heed; for, if me thou pitiest then,
Twenty to one but I shall live again.
THE GIVEN HEART.
I WONDER What those lovers mean, who say They'ave given their hearts away:
Some good kind lover, tell me how? For mine is but a torment to me now.
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