Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

By absence this good means I gain,
That I can catch her,

Where none can match her,
In some close corner of my brain :
There I embrace and kiss her;
And so I both enjoy and miss her.

J. Donne

XIII

VIA AMORIS

High-way, since you my chief Parnassus be,
And that my Muse, to some ears not unsweet,
Tempers her words to trampling horses' feet
More oft than to a chamber melody,-

Now, blessed you bear onward blessed me
To her, where I my heart, safe-left, shall meet;
My Muse and I must you of duty greet
With thanks and wishes, wishing thankfully;

Be you still fair, honour'd by public heed;

By no encroachment wrong'd, nor time forgot; Nor blamed for blood, nor shamed for sinful deed; And that you know I envy you no lot

Of highest wish, I wish you so much bliss,Hundreds of years you Stella's feet may kiss! Sir P. Sidney

XIV

ABSENCE

Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend
Nor services to do, till you require :

Nor dare I chide the world-without-end-hour
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour

When you have bid your servant once adieu :

Nor dare I question with my jealous thought
Where you may be, or your affairs suppose,
But like a sad slave, stay and think of nought
Save, where you are, how happy you make those ;-
So true a fool is love, that in your will

Though you do anything, he thinks no ill.

W. Shakespeare

XV

How like a winter hath my absence been
From Thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen,
What old December's bareness everywhere!
And yet this time removed was summer's time:
The teeming autumn, big with rich increase,
Bearing the wanton burden of the prime
Like widow'd wombs after their lords' decease:
Yet this abundant issue seem'd to me
But hope of orphans, and unfather'd fruit ;
For summer and his pleasures wait on thee,
And, thou away, the very birds are mute;

Or if they sing, 'tis with so dull a cheer,
That leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near.
W. Shakespeare

XVI

A CONSOLATION

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate ;

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friend's possest,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least ;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on Thee—and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate; For thy sweet love remember'd, such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings. W. Shakespeare

XVII

THE UNCHANGEABLE

O never say that I was false of heart,
Though absence seem'd my flame to qualify :
As easy might I from myself depart

As from my soul, which in thy breast doth lie ;
That is my home of love; if I have ranged,
Like him that travels, I return again,
Just to the time, not with the time exchanged,
So that myself bring water for my stain.
Never believe, though in my nature reign'd
All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood,
That it could so preposterously be stain'd
To leave for nothing all thy sum of good :
For nothing this wide universe I call,
Save thou, my rose in it thou art my all.
W. Shakespeare

XVIII

To me, fair Friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I eyed
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters' cold
Have from the forests shook three summers' pride;
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn'd
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn'd,
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green.
Ah! yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand,
Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived;

So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived:
For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred,-
Ere you were born, was beauty's summer dead.
W. Shakespeare

XIX

ROSALINE

Like to the clear in highest sphere
Where all imperial glory shines,
Of selfsame colour is her hair
Whether unfolded, or in twines:
Heigh ho, fair Rosaline !

Her eyes are sapphires set in snow,
Resembling heaven by every wink
The Gods do fear whenas they glow,
And I do tremble when I think

Heigh ho, would she were mine!
Her cheeks are like the blushing cloud
That beautifies Aurora's face,

Or like the silver crimson shroud

That Phoebus' smiling looks doth grace;

Heigh ho, fair Rosaline!

Her lips are like two budded roses

Whom ranks of lilies neighbour nigh,

Within which bounds she balm encloses
Apt to entice a deity:

Heigh ho, would she were mine!

Her neck is like a stately tower
Where Love himself imprison'd lies,
To watch for glances every hour
From her divine and sacred eyes:
Heigh ho, for Rosaline!

Her paps are centres of delight,

Her breasts are orbs of heavenly frame,
Where Nature moulds the dew of light
To feed perfection with the same :

Heigh ho, would she were mine!

With orient pearl, witn ruby red,

With marble white, with sapphire blue
Her body every way is fed,

Yet soft in touch and sweet in view:
Heigh ho, fair Rosaline !

Nature herself her shape admires ;
The Gods are wounded in her sight;
And Love forsakes his heavenly fires
And at her eyes his brand doth light :
Heigh ho, would she were mine!

Then muse not, Nymphs, though I bemoan
The absence of fair Rosaline,

Since for a fair there's fairer none,

Nor for her virtues so divine:

Heigh ho, fair Rosaline;

Heigh ho, my heart! would God that she were mine

XX
COLIN

T. Lodge

Beauty sat bathing by a spring

Where fairest shades did hide her;
The winds blew calm, the birds did sing,
The cool streams ran beside her.

My wanton thoughts enticed mine eye
To see what was forbidden :

But better memory said, fie!

So vain desire was chidden :-
Hey nonny nonny O!

Hey nonny nonny!

Into a slumber then I fell,

When fond imagination

Seemed to see, but could not tell
Her feature or her fashion.

But ev'n as babes in dreams do smile,
And sometimes fall a-weeping,

So I awaked, as wise this while

As when I fell a-sleeping:

[ocr errors]

Hey nonny nonny O!
Hey nonny nonny!

The Shepherd Torie

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »