XXII

TO AURORA

IF thou knew'st how thou thyself dost harm,
And dost prejudge thy bliss, and spoil my rest ;

Then thou wouldst melt the ice out of thy breast
And thy relenting heart would kindly warm.

O if thy pride did not our joys controul,
What world of loving wonders shouldst thou see!
For if I saw thee once transform'd in me,
Then in thy bosom I would pour my soul;

Then all my thoughts should in thy visage shine,
And if that aught mischanced thou shouldst not moan
Nor bear the burthen of thy griefs alone;

No, I would have my share in what were thine :

And whilst we thus should make our sorrows one,
This happy harmony would make them none.

W. Alexander, Earl of Sterline

L

XXIII

TRUE LOVE

ET me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove : -

O no! it is an ever-fixéd mark

That looks on tempests, and is never shaken ;

It is the star to every wandering bark
Whose worth 's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out ev'n to the edge of doom :

If this be error, and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

W. Shakespearė

MY

XXIV

A DITTY

Y true-love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one to the other given :

I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,
There never was a better bargain driven :
My true-love hath my heart, and I have his.

His heart in me keeps him and me in one,
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides :
He loves my heart, for once it was his own,
I cherish his because in me it bides :

My true-love hath my heart, and I have his.
Sir P. Sidney

XXV

WER

LOVE'S OMNIPRESENCE

ERE I as base as is the lowly plain,
And you, my Love, as high as heaven above,

Yet should the thoughts of me your humble swain
Ascend to heaven, in honour of my Love.

Were I as high as heaven above the plain,
And you, my Love, as humble and as low
As are the deepest bottoms of the main,
Whereso'er you were, with you my love should go.

Were you the earth, dear Love, and I the skies,
My love should shine on you like to the sun,
And look upon you with ten thousand eyes
Till heaven wax'd blind, and till the world were done.

Whereso'er I am, below, or else above you,
Whereso'er you are, my heart shall truly love you.
J. Sylvester

XXVI

CARPE DIEM

MISTRESS mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and hear! your true-love 's coming
That can sing both high and low;

Trip no further, pretty sweeting,
Journeys end in lovers' meeting

Every wise man's son doth know.

What is love? 't is not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure:

In delay there lies no plenty,
Then come kiss me, Sweet-and-twenty,
Youth's a stuff will not endure.

W. Shakespeare

XXVII

WINTER

WHEN icicles hang by the wall

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,

And Tom bears logs into the hall,

And milk comes frozen home in pail;

When blood is nipt, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl
Tuwhoo!

Tuwhit! tuwhoo! A merry note !
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all around the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw;
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl
Then nightly sings the staring owl
Tuwhoo!

Tuwhit! tuwhoo! A merry note !
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

W. Shakespeare

T

XXVIII

HAT time of year thou may'st in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou seest the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by :

This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave erelong.

W. Shakespeare

W

XXIX

REMEMBRANCE

HEN to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,

I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste;

Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,

For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long-since-cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight.

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoanéd moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before :

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored, and sorrows end.

W. Shakespeare