Who, being look'd on, ducks as quickly in;
So offers he to give what she did crave;

But when her lips were ready for his pay,
He winks, and turns his lips another way. 90

Never did passenger in summer's heat
More thirst for drink than she for this good

turn.

Her help she sees, but help she cannot get ;
She bathes in water, yet her fire must burn.

"O, pity," gan she cry, "flint-hearted boy! 95 "T is but a kiss I beg; why art thou coy?

"I have been wooed, as I entreat thee now, Even by the stern and direful god of war, Whose sinewy neck in battle ne'er did bow, Who conquers where he comes in every jar; 100 Yet hath he been my captive and my slave, And begg'd for that which thou unask'd shalt have.

O'erworn, despised, rheumatic, and cold, Thick-sighted, barren, lean, and lacking juice, Then mightst thou pause, for then I were not for thee;

But having no defects, why dost abhor me?

"Thou canst not see one wrinkle in my brow; Mine eyes are grey and bright and quick in turning;

My beauty as the spring doth yearly grow, My flesh is soft and plump, my marrow burning;

My smooth moist hand, were it with thy hand felt,

Would in thy palm dissolve, or seem to melt.

"Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear,
Or, like a fairy, trip upon the green.
Or, like a nymph, with long dishevelled hair,
Dance on the sands, and yet no footing seen.
Love is a spirit all compact of fire.

Not gross to sink, but light, and will aspire.

'Witness this primrose bank whereon I lie; These forceless flowers like sturdy trees sup

port me;

Two strengthless doves will draw me through the sky

From morn till night, even where I list to sport

me.

Is love so light, sweet boy, and may it be That thou should think it heavy unto thee?

"Is thine own heart to thine own face affected?

Can thy right nd seize love upon thy left?
Then woo thyself, be of thyself rejected,
Steal thine own freedom and complain on theft.
Narcissus so himself himself forsook.

And died to kiss his shadow in the brook.

"Torches are made to light, jewels to wear, Dainties to taste, fresh beauty for the use. Herbs for their smell, and sappy plants to bear;

Things growing to themselves are growth's abuse.

Seeds spring from seeds and beauty breedeth

beauty;

Thou wast begot; to get it is thy duty.

"Upon the earth's increase why shouldst thou feed,

Unless the earth with thy increase be fed?
By law of nature thou art bound to breed.
That thine may live when thoa thyself art
dead;

And so, in spite of death, thou dost survive,
In that thy likeness still is left alive.”

By this the love-sick queen began to sweat. For where they lay the shadow had forsook them,

And Titan, tired in the mid-day heat.
With burning eye did hotly overlook them;
Wishing Adonis had his team to guide.
So he were like him and by Venus' side.

His love, perceiving how he is enrag'd.
Grew kinder, and his fury was assnag'd.

His testy master goeth about to take him;
When, lo, the unback'd breeder, full of fear, 20
Jealous of catching, swiftly doth forsake him,
With her the horse, and left Adonis there.

As they were mad, unto the wood they hie them,

Out-stripping crows that strive to over-fly them.

All swoln with chafing, down Adonis sits, Banning his boisterous and unruly beast; And now the happy season once more fits. That love-sick Love by pleading may be blest; For lovers say, the heart hath treble wrong When it is barr'd the aidance of the

tongue.

An oven that is stopp'd, or river stay'd,
Burneth more hotly, swelleth with more rage:
So of concealed sorrow may be said;
Free vent of words love's fire doth assuage;
But when the heart's attorney once is
mute,

The client breaks, as desperate in his suit.

He sees her coming, and begins to glow.
Even as a dying coal revives with wind.
And with his bonnet hides his angry brow;
Looks on the dull earth with disturbed mind. 340
Taking no notice that she is so nigh,
For all askance he holds her in his eye.

Or ivory in an alabaster band;

So white a friend engirts so white a foe.

go;

380

My day's delight is past, my horse is gone,
And 't is your fault I am bereft him so.
I pray you hence, and leave me here alone;
For all my mind, my thought, my busy care,
Is how to get my palfrey from the mare." 384

Thus she replies: "Thy palfrey, as he should,
Welcomes the warm approach of sweet desire;
Affection is a coal that must be cool'd,
Else, suffer'd, it will set the heart on fire.

The sea hath bounds, but deep desire hath

Melodious discord, heavenly tune harshsounding,

Ear's deep sweet music, and heart's deep sore wounding.

"Had I no eyes but ears, my ears would love That inward beauty and invisible;

Or were I deaf, thy outward parts would

move

Each part in me that were but sensible:

435

Though neither eyes nor ears to hear nor see, Yet should I be in love by touching thee.

"Say, that the sense of feeling were bereft me, And that I could not see, nor hear, nor touch,

440

And nothing but the very smell were left me, Yet would my love to thee be still as much; For from the stillitory of thy face excelling Comes breath perfum'd that breedeth love by smelling.

446

"But, O, what banquet wert thou to the taste, Being nurse and feeder of the other four! Would they not wish the feast might ever last, And bid Suspicion double-lock the door, Lest Jealousy, that sour unwelcome guest, Should, by his stealing in, disturb the feast?

450

Once more the ruby-colour'd portal open'd, Which to his speech did honey passage yield; Like a red morn, that ever yet betoken'd Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field,

465

And at his look she flatly falleth down,
For looks kill love and love by looks reviveth;
A smile recures the wounding of a frown;
But blessed bankrupt, that by love so thriveth!
The silly boy, believing she is dead,

Claps her pale cheek, till clapping makes it red;

And all amaz'd brake off his late intent,
For sharply he did think to reprehend her,
Which cunning love did wittily prevent:
Fair fall the wit that can so well defend her!
For on the grass she lies as she were slain,
Till his breath breatheth life in her again.

470

206

"Long may they kiss each other, for this cure!
O, never let their crimson liveries wear!
And as they last, their verdure still endure
To drive infection from the dangerous year!
That the star-gazers, having writ on death.
May say the plague is banish'd by thy breath.

"Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted,

What bargains may I make, still to be sealing? To sell myself I can be well contented,

So thou wilt buy and pay and use good dealing; Which purchase if thou make, for fear of slips

Set thy seal-manual on my wax-red lips. "A thousand kisses buys my heart from me : And pay them at thy leisure, one by one. What is ten hundred touches unto thee? Are they not quickly told and quickly gone? Say, for non-payment that the debt should double,

Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble?" "Fair queen," quoth he, "if any love you owe

me,

Measure my strangeness with my unripe years; Before I know myself, seek not to know me: 525 No fisher but the ungrown fry forbears;

The mellow plum doth fall, the green sticks fast,

Or being early pluck'd is sour to taste. "Look, the world's comforter with weary gait His day's hot task hath ended in the west; 30 The owl, night's herald, shrieks; 't is very late; The sheep are gone to fold, birds to their nest; And coal-black clouds that shadow heaven's light