SOME man unworthy to be possessor

Of old or new love, himselfe being false or weake,

Thought his paine and shame would be lesser,

If on womankind he might his anger wreake,

5And thence a law did grow,

One might but one man know;

But are other creatures so?

Are Sunne, Moone, or Starres by law forbidden,

To smile where they list, or lend away their light?

10Are birds divorc'd, or are they chidden

If they leave their mate, or lie abroad a night?

Beasts doe no joyntures lose

Though they new lovers choose,

But we are made worse then those.

15Who e'r rigg'd faire ship to lie in harbors,

And not to seeke new lands, or not to deale withall?

Or built faire houses, set trees, and arbors,

Only to lock up, or else to let them fall?

Good is not good, unlesse

20A thousand it possesse,

But doth wast with greedinesse.

DEARE love, for nothing lesse then thee

Would I have broke this happy dreame,

It was a theame

For reason, much too strong for phantasie,

5Therefore thou wakd'st me wisely; yet

My Dreame thou brok'st not, but continued'st it,

Thou art so truth, that thoughts of thee suffice,

To make dreames truths; and fables histories;

Enter these armes, for since thou thoughtst it best,

10Not to dreame all my dreame, let's act the rest.

As lightning, or a Tapers light,

Thine eyes, and not thy noise wak'd mee;

Yet I thought thee

(For thou lovest truth) an Angell, at first sight,

15But when I saw thou sawest my heart,

And knew'st my thoughts, beyond an Angels art,

When thou knew'st what I dreamt, when thou knew'st when

Excesse of joy would wake me, and cam'st then,

I must confesse, it could not chuse but bee

20Prophane, to thinke thee any thing but thee.

Comming and staying show'd thee, thee,

But rising makes me doubt, that now,

Thou art not thou.

That love is weake, where feare's as strong as hee;

25'Tis not all spirit, pure, and brave,

If mixture it of Feare, Shame, Honor, have.

Perchance as torches which must ready bee,

Men light and put out, so thou deal'st with mee,

Thou cam'st to kindle, goest to come; Then I

30Will dreame that hope againe, but else would die.

LET me powre forth

My teares before thy face, whil'st I stay here,

For thy face coines them, and thy stampe they beare,

And by this Mintage they are something worth,

5For thus they bee

Pregnant of thee;

Fruits of much griefe they are, emblemes of more,

When a teare falls, that thou falst which it bore,

So thou and I are nothing then, when on a divers shore.

10On a round ball

A workeman that hath copies by, can lay

An Europe, Afrique, and an Asia,

And quickly make that, which was nothing, All,

So doth each teare,

15Which thee doth weare,

A globe, yea world by that impression grow,

Till thy teares mixt with mine doe overflow

This world, by waters sent from thee, my heaven dissolved so.

O more then Moone,

20Draw not up seas to drowne me in thy spheare,

Weepe me not dead, in thine armes, but forbeare

To teach the sea, what it may doe too soone;

Let not the winde

Example finde,

25To doe me more harme, then it purposeth;

Since thou and I sigh one anothers breath,

Who e'r sighes most, is cruellest, and hasts the others death.

SOME that have deeper digg'd loves Myne then I,

Say, where his centrique happinesse doth lie:

I have lov'd, and got, and told,

But should I love, get, tell, till I were old,

5I should not finde that hidden mysterie;

Oh, 'tis imposture all:

And as no chymique yet th'Elixar got,

But glorifies his pregnant pot,

If by the way to him befall

10Some odoriferous thing, or medicinall,

So, lovers dreame a rich and long delight,

But get a winter-seeming summers night.

Our ease, our thrift, our honor, and our day,

Shall we, for this vaine Bubles shadow pay?

15Ends love in this, that my man,

Can be as happy'as I can; If he can

Endure the short scorne of a Bridegroomes play?

That loving wretch that sweares,

'Tis not the bodies marry, but the mindes,

20Which he in her Angelique findes,

Would sweare as justly, that he heares,

In that dayes rude hoarse minstralsey, the spheares.

Hope not for minde in women; at their best

Sweetnesse and wit, they'are but Mummy, possest.

MARKE but this flea, and marke in this,

How little that which thou deny'st me is;

It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea, our two bloods mingled bee;

5Thou know'st that this cannot be said

A sinne, nor shame, nor losse of maidenhead,

Yet this enjoyes before it wooe,

And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two,

And this, alas, is more then wee would doe.

10Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,

Where wee almost, yea more then maryed are.

This flea is you and I, and this

Our mariage bed, and mariage temple is;

Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met,

15And cloysterd in these living walls of Jet.

Though use make you apt to kill mee,

Let not to that, selfe murder added bee,

And sacrilege, three sinnes in killing three.

Cruell and sodaine, hast thou since

20Purpled thy naile, in blood of innocence?

Wherein could this flea guilty bee,

Except in that drop which it suckt from thee?

Yet thou triumph'st, and saist that thou

Find'st not thy selfe, nor mee the weaker now;

25'Tis true, then learne how false, feares bee;

Just so much honor, when thou yeeld'st to mee,

Will wast, as this flea's death tooke life from thee.

WHO ever guesses, thinks, or dreames he knowes

Who is my mistris, wither by this curse;

His only, and only his purse

May some dull heart to love dispose,

5And shee yeeld then to all that are his foes;

May he be scorn'd by one, whom all else scorne,

Forsweare to others, what to her he'hath sworne,

With feare of missing, shame of getting, torne:

Madnesse his sorrow, gout his cramp, may hee

10Make, by but thinking, who hath made him such:

And may he feele no touch

Of conscience, but of fame, and bee

Anguish'd, not that'twas sinne, but that'twas shee:

In early and long scarcenesse may he rot,

15For land which had been his, if he had not

Himselfe incestuously an heire begot:

May he dreame Treason, and beleeve, that hee

Meant to performe it, and confesse, and die,

And no record tell why:

20His sonnes, which none of his may bee,

Inherite nothing but his infamie:

Or may he so long Parasites have fed,

That he would faine be theirs, whom he hath bred,

And at the last be circumcis'd for bread:

25The venom of all stepdames, gamsters gall,

What Tyrans, and their subjects interwish,

What Plants, Mynes, Beasts, Foule, Fish,

Can contribute, all ill which all

Prophets, or Poets spake; And all which shall

30Be annex'd in schedules unto this by mee,

Fall on that man; For if it be a shee

Nature before hand hath out-cursed mee.

SEND home my long strayd eyes to mee,

Which (Oh) too long have dwelt on thee;

Yet since there they have learn'd such ill,

Such forc'd fashions,

5And false passions,

That they be

Made by thee

Fit for no good sight, keep them still.

Send home my harmlesse heart againe,

10Which no unworthy thought could staine;

But if it be taught by thine

To make jestings

Of protestings,

And crosse both

15Word and oath,

Keepe it, for then 'tis none of mine.

Yet send me back my heart and eyes,

That I may know, and see thy lyes,

And may laugh and joy, when thou

20Art in anguish

And dost languish

For some one

That will none,

Or prove as false as thou art now.

TIS the yeares midnight, and it is the dayes,

Lucies, who scarce seaven houres herself unmaskes,

The Sunne is spent, and now his flasks

Send forth light squibs, no constant rayes;

5The worlds whole sap is sunke:

The generall balme th'hydroptique earth hath drunk,

Whither, as to the beds-feet, life is shrunke,

Dead and enterr'd; yet all these seeme to laugh,

Compar'd with mee, who am their Epitaph.

10Study me then, you who shall lovers bee

At the next world, that is, at the next Spring:

For I am every dead thing,

In whom love wrought new Alchimie.

For his art did expresse

15A quintessence even from nothingnesse,

From dull privations, and leane emptinesse:

He ruin'd mee, and I am re-begot

Of absence, darknesse, death; things which are not.

All others, from all things, draw all that's good,

20Life, soule, forme, spirit, whence they beeing have;

I, by loves limbecke, am the grave

Of all, that's nothing. Oft a flood

Have wee two wept, and so

Drownd the whole world, us two; oft did we grow

25To be two Chaosses, when we did show

Care to ought else; and often absences

Withdrew our soules, and made us carcasses.

But I am by her death, (which word wrongs her)

Of the first nothing, the Elixer grown;

30Were I a man, that I were one,

I needs must know; I should preferre,

If I were any beast,

Some ends, some means; Yea plants, yea stones detest,

And love; All, all some properties invest;

35If I an ordinary nothing were,

As shadow, a light, and body must be here.

But I am None; nor will my Sunne renew.

You lovers, for whose sake, the lesser Sunne

At this time to the Goat is runne

40To fetch new lust, and give it you,

Enjoy your summer all;

Since shee enjoyes her long nights festivall,

Let mee prepare towards her, and let mee call

This houre her Vigill, and her Eve, since this

45Both the yeares, and the dayes deep midnight is.

I FIXE mine eye on thine, and there

Pitty my picture burning in thine eye,

My picture drown'd in a transparent teare,

When I looke lower I espie;

5Hadst thou the wicked skill

By pictures made and mard, to kill,

How many wayes mightst thou performe thy will?

But now I have drunke thy sweet salt teares,

And though thou poure more I'll depart;

10My picture vanish'd, vanish feares,

That I can be endamag'd by that art;

Though thou retaine of mee

One picture more, yet that will bee,

Being in thine owne heart, from all malice free.

COME live with mee, and bee my love,

And wee will some new pleasures prove

Of golden sands, and christall brookes,

With silken lines, and silver hookes.

5There will the river whispering runne

Warm'd by thy eyes, more then the Sunne.

And there the'inamor'd fish will stay,

Begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swimme in that live bath,

10Each fish, which every channell hath,

Will amorously to thee swimme,

Gladder to catch thee, then thou him.

If thou, to be so seene, beest loath,

By Sunne, or Moone, thou darknest both,

15And if my selfe have leave to see,

I need not their light, having thee.

Let others freeze with angling reeds,

And cut their legges, with shells and weeds,

Or treacherously poore fish beset,

20With strangling snare, or windowie net:

Let coarse bold hands, from slimy nest

The bedded fish in banks out-wrest,

Or curious traitors, sleavesilke flies

Bewitch poore fishes wandring eyes.

25For thee, thou needst no such deceit,

For thou thy selfe art thine owne bait;

That fish, that is not catch'd thereby,

Alas, is wiser farre then I.

WHEN by thy scorne, O murdresse, I am dead,

And that thou thinkst thee free

From all solicitation from mee,

Then shall my ghost come to thy bed,

5And thee, fain'd vestall, in worse armes shall see;

Then thy sicke taper will begin to winke,

And he, whose thou art then, being tyr'd before,

Will, if thou stirre, or pinch to wake him, thinke

Thou call'st for more,

10And in false sleepe will from thee shrinke,

And then poore Aspen wretch, neglected thou

Bath'd in a cold quicksilver sweat wilt lye

A veryer ghost then I;

What I will say, I will not tell thee now,

15Lest that preserve thee'; and since my love is spent,

I'had rather thou shouldst painfully repent,

Then by my threatnings rest still innocent.

HE is starke mad, who ever sayes,

That he hath beene in love an houre,

Yet not that love so soone decayes,

But that it can tenne in lesse space devour;

5Who will beleeve mee, if I sweare

That I have had the plague a yeare?

Who would not laugh at mee, if I should say,

I saw a flaske of powder burne a day?

Ah, what a trifle is a heart,

10If once into loves hands it come!

All other griefes allow a part

To other griefes, and aske themselves but some;

They come to us, but us Love draws,

Hee swallows us, and never chawes:

15By him, as by chain'd shot, whole rankes doe dye,

He is the tyran Pike, our hearts the Frye.

If 'twere not so, what did become

Of my heart, when I first saw thee?

I brought a heart into the roome,

20But from the roome, I carried none with mee:

If it had gone to thee, I know

Mine would have taught thine heart to show

More pitty unto mee: but Love, alas,

At one first blow did shiver it as glasse.

25Yet nothing can to nothing fall,

Nor any place be empty quite,

Therefore I thinke my breast hath all

Those peeces still, though they be not unite;

And now as broken glasses show

30A hundred lesser faces, so

My ragges of heart can like, wish, and adore,

But after one such love, can love no more.

AS virtuous men passe mildly away,

And whisper to their soules, to goe,

Whilst some of their sad friends doe say,

The breath goes now, and some say, no:

5So let us melt, and make no noise,

No teare-floods, nor sigh-tempests move,

T'were prophanation of our joyes

To tell the layetie our love.

Moving of th'earth brings harmes and feares,

10Men reckon what it did and meant,

But trepidation of the spheares,

Though greater farre, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers love

(Whose soule is sense) cannot admit

15Absence, because it doth remove

Those things which elemented it.

But we by a love, so much refin'd,

That our selves know not what it is,

Inter-assured of the mind,

20Care lesse, eyes, lips, and hands to misse.

Our two soules therefore, which are one,

Though I must goe, endure not yet

A breach, but an expansion,

Like gold to ayery thinnesse beate.

25If they be two, they are two so

As stiffe twin compasses are two,

Thy soule the fixt foot, makes no show

To move, but doth, if the'other doe.

And though it in the center sit,

30Yet when the other far doth rome,

It leanes, and hearkens after it,

And growes erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to mee, who must

Like th'other foot, obliquely runne;

Thy firmnes makes my circle just,

35And makes me end, where I begunne.

WHERE, like a pillow on a bed,

A Pregnant banke swel'd up, to rest

The violets reclining head,

Sat we two, one anothers best.

5Our hands were firmely cimented

With a fast balme, which thence did spring,

Our eye-beames twisted, and did thred

Our eyes, upon one double string;

So to'entergraft our hands, as yet

10Was all the meanes to make us one,

And pictures in our eyes to get

Was all our propagation.

As 'twixt two equall Armies, Fate

Suspends uncertaine victorie,

15Our soules, (which to advance their state,

Were gone out,) hung 'twixt her, and mee.

And whil'st our soules negotiate there,

Wee like sepulchrall statues lay;

All day, the same our postures were,

20And wee said nothing, all the day.

If any, so by love refin'd,

That he soules language understood,

And by good love were growen all minde,

Within convenient distance stood,

25He (though he knew not which soule spake,

Because both meant, both spake the same)

Might thence a new concoction take,

And part farre purer then he came.

This Extasie doth unperplex

30(We said) and tell us what we love,

Wee see by this, it was not sexe,

Wee see, we saw not what did move:

But as all severall soules containe

Mixture of things, they know not what,

35Love, these mixt soules, doth mixe againe,

And makes both one, each this and that.

A single violet transplant,

The strength, the colour, and the size,

(All which before was poore, and scant,)

40Redoubles still, and multiplies.

When love, with one another so

Interinanimates two soules,

That abler soule, which thence doth flow,

Defects of lonelinesse controules.

45Wee then, who are this new soule, know,

Of what we are compos'd, and made,

For, th'Atomies of which we grow,

Are soules, whom no change can invade.

But O alas, so long, so farre

50Our bodies why doe wee forbeare?

They are ours, though they are not wee, Wee are

The intelligences, they the spheare.

We owe them thankes, because they thus,

Did us, to us, at first convay,

55Yeelded their forces, sense, to us,

Nor are drosse to us, but allay.

On man heavens influence workes not so,

But that it first imprints the ayre,

Soe soule into the soule may flow,

60Though it to body first repaire.

As our blood labours to beget

Spirits, as like soules as it can,

Because such fingers need to knit

That subtile knot, which makes us man:

65So must pure lovers soules descend

T'affections, and to faculties,

Which sense may reach and apprehend,

Else a great Prince in prison lies.

To'our bodies turne wee then, that so

70Weake men on love reveal'd may looke;

Loves mysteries in soules doe grow,

But yet the body is his booke.

And if some lover, such as wee,

Have heard this dialogue of one,

75Let him still marke us, he shall see

Small change, when we'are to bodies gone.

I LONG to talke with some old lovers ghost,

Who dyed before the god of Love was borne:

I cannot thinke that hee, who then lov'd most,

Sunke so low, as to love one which did scorne.

5But since this god produc'd a destinie,

And that vice-nature, custome, lets it be;

I must love her, that loves not mee.

Sure, they which made him god, meant not so much,

Nor he, in his young godhead practis'd it;

10But when an even flame two hearts did touch,

His office was indulgently to fit

Actives to passives. Correspondencie

Only his subject was; It cannot bee

Love, till I love her, that loves mee.

15But every moderne god will now extend

His vast prerogative, as far as Jove.

To rage, to lust, to write to, to commend,

All is the purlewe of the God of Love.

Oh were wee wak'ned by this Tyrannie

20To ungod this child againe, it could not bee

I should love her, who loves not mee.

Rebell and Atheist too, why murmure I,

As though I felt the worst that love could doe?

Love might make me leave loving, or might trie

25A deeper plague, to make her love mee too,

Which, since she loves before, I'am loth to see;

Falshood is worse then hate; and that must bee,

If shee whom I love, should love mee.

TO what a combersome unwieldinesse

And burdenous corpulence my love had growne,

But that I did, to make it lesse,

And keepe it in proportion,

5Give it a diet, made it feed upon

That which love worst endures, discretion.

Above one sigh a day I'allow'd him not,

Of which my fortune, and my faults had part;

And if sometimes by stealth he got

10A she sigh from my mistresse heart,

And thought to feast on that, I let him see

'Twas neither very sound, nor meant to mee.

If he wroung from mee'a teare, I brin'd it so

With scorne or shame, that him it nourish'd not;

15If he suck'd hers, I let him know

'Twas not a teare, which hee had got,

His drinke was counterfeit, as was his meat;

For, eyes which rowle towards all, weepe not, but sweat.

What ever he would dictate, I writ that,

20But burnt my letters; When she writ to me,

And that that favour made him fat,

I said, if any title bee

Convey'd by this, Ah, what doth it availe,

To be the fortieth name in an entaile?

25Thus I reclaim'd my buzard love, to flye

At what, and when, and how, and where I chuse;

Now negligent of sport I lye,

And now as other Fawkners use,

I spring a mistresse, sweare, write, sigh and weepe:

30And the game kill'd, or lost, goe talke, and sleepe.

BEFORE I sigh my last gaspe, let me breath,

Great love, some Legacies; Here I bequeath

Mine eyes to Argus, if mine eyes can see,

If they be blinde, then Love, I give them thee;

5My tongue to Fame; to'Embassadours mine eares;

To women or the sea, my teares.

Thou, Love, hast taught mee heretofore

By making mee serve her who'had twenty more,

That I should give to none, but such, as had too much before.

10My constancie I to the planets give;

My truth to them, who at the Court doe live;

Mine ingenuity and opennesse,

To Jesuites; to Buffones my pensivenesse;

My silence to'any, who abroad hath beene;

15My mony to a Capuchin.

Thou Love taught'st me, by appointing mee

To love there, where no love receiv'd can be,

Onely to give to such as have an incapacitie.

My faith I give to Roman Catholiques;

20All my good works unto the Schismaticks

Of Amsterdam; my best civility

And Courtship, to an Universitie;

My modesty I give to souldiers bare;

My patience let gamesters share.

25Thou Love taughtst mee, by making mee

Love her that holds my love disparity,

Onely to give to those that count my gifts indignity.

I give my reputation to those

Which were my friends; Mine industrie to foes;

30To Schoolemen I bequeath my doubtfulnesse;

My sicknesse to Physitians, or excesse;

To Nature, all that I in Ryme have writ;

And to my company my wit.

Thou Love, by making mee adore

35Her, who begot this love in mee before,

Taughtst me to make, as though I gave, when I did but restore.

To him for whom the passing bell next tolls,

I give my physick bookes; my writen rowles

Of Morall counsels, I to Bedlam give;

40My brazen medals, unto them which live

In want of bread; To them which passe among

All forrainers, mine English tongue.

Thou, Love, by making mee love one

Who thinkes her friendship a fit portion

45For yonger lovers, dost my gifts thus disproportion.

Therefore I'll give no more; But I'll undoe

The world by dying; because love dies too.

Then all your beauties will bee no more worth

Then gold in Mines, where none doth draw it forth;

50And all your graces no more use shall have

Then a Sun dyall in a grave.

Thou Love taughtst mee, by making mee

Love her, who doth neglect both mee and thee,

To'invent, and practise this one way, to'annihilate all three.

WHO ever comes to shroud me, do not harme

Nor question much

That subtile wreath of haire, which crowns my arme;

The mystery, the signe you must not touch,

5For 'tis my outward Soule,

Viceroy to that, which then to heaven being gone,

Will leave this to controule,

And keepe these limbes, her Provinces, from dissolution.

For if the sinewie thread my braine lets fall

10Through every part,

Can tye those parts, and make mee one of all;

These haires which upward grew, and strength and art

Have from a better braine,

Can better do'it; Except she meant that I

15By this should know my pain,

As prisoners then are manacled, when they'are condemn'd to die.

What ere shee meant by'it, bury it with me,

For since I am

Loves martyr, it might breed idolatrie,

20If into others hands these Reliques came;

As'twas humility

To afford to it all that a Soule can doe,

So,'tis some bravery,

That since you would save none of mee, I bury some of you.

LITTLE think'st thou, poore flower,

Whom I have watch'd sixe or seaven dayes,

And seene thy birth, and seene what every houre

Gave to thy growth, thee to this height to raise,

5And now dost laugh and triumph on this bough,

Little think'st thou

That it will freeze anon, and that I shall

To morrow finde thee falne, or not at all.

Little think'st thou poore heart

10That labour'st yet to nestle thee,

And think'st by hovering here to get a part

In a forbidden or forbidding tree,

And hop'st her stiffenesse by long siege to bow:

Little think'st thou,

15That thou to morrow, ere that Sunne doth wake,

Must with this Sunne, and mee a journey take.

But thou which lov'st to bee

Subtile to plague thy selfe, wilt say,

Alas, if you must goe, what's that to mee?

20Here lyes my businesse, and here I will stay:

You goe to friends, whose love and meanes present

Various content

To your eyes, eares, and tongue, and every part.

If then your body goe, what need you a heart?

25Well then, stay here; but know,

When thou hast stayd and done thy most;

A naked thinking heart, that makes no show,

Is to a woman, but a kinde of Ghost;

How shall shee know my heart; or having none,

30Know thee for one?

Practise may make her know some other part,

But take my word, shee doth not know a Heart.

Meet mee at London, then,

Twenty dayes hence, and thou shalt see

35Mee fresher, and more fat, by being with men,

Then if I had staid still with her and thee.

For Gods sake, if you can, be you so too:

I would give you

There, to another friend, whom wee shall finde

40As glad to have my body, as my minde.

VPON this Primrose hill,

Where, if Heav'n would distill

A shoure of raine, each severall drop might goe

To his owne primrose, and grow Manna so;

5And where their forme, and their infinitie

Make a terrestriall Galaxie,

As the small starres doe in the skie:

I walke to finde a true Love; and I see

That'tis not a mere woman, that is shee,

10But must, or more, or lesse then woman bee.

Yet know I not, which flower

I wish; a sixe, or foure;

For should my true-Love lesse then woman bee,

She were scarce any thing; and then, should she

15Be more then woman, shee would get above

All thought of sexe, and thinke to move

My heart to study her, and not to love;

Both these were monsters; Since there must reside

Falshood in woman, I could more abide,

20She were by art, then Nature falsify'd.

Live Primrose then, and thrive

With thy true number five;

And women, whom this flower doth represent,

With this mysterious number be content;

25Ten is the farthest number; if halfe ten

Belonge unto each woman, then

Each woman may take halfe us men;

Or if this will not serve their turne, Since all

Numbers are odde, or even, and they fall

30First into this, five, women may take us all.

WHEN my grave is broke up againe

Some second ghest to entertaine,

(For graves have learn'd that woman-head

To be to more then one a Bed)

5And he that digs it, spies

A bracelet of bright haire about the bone,

Will he not let'us alone,

And thinke that there a loving couple lies,

Who thought that this device might be some way

10To make their soules, at the last busie day,

Meet at this grave, and make a little stay?

If this fall in a time, or land,

Where mis-devotion doth command,

Then, he that digges us up, will bring

15Us, to the Bishop, and the King,

To make us Reliques; then

Thou shalt be a Mary Magdalen, and I

A something else thereby;

All women shall adore us, and some men;

20And since at such time, miracles are sought,

I would have that age by this paper taught

What miracles wee harmelesse lovers wrought.

First, we lov'd well and faithfully,

Yet knew not what wee lov'd, nor why,

25Difference of sex no more wee knew,

Then our Guardian Angells doe;

Comming and going, wee

Perchance might kisse, but not between those meales;

Our hands ne'r toucht the seales,

30Which nature, injur'd by late law, sets free:

These miracles wee did; but now alas,

All measure, and all language, I would passe,

Should I tell what a miracle shee was.

WHEN I am dead, and Doctors know not why,

And my friends curiositie

Will have me cut up to survay each part,

When they shall finde your Picture in my heart,

5You thinke a sodaine dampe of love

Will through all their senses move,

And worke on them as mee, and so preferre

Your murder, to the name of Massacre.

Poore victories! But if you dare be brave,

10And pleasure in your conquest have,

First kill th'enormous Gyant, your Disdaine,

And let th'enchantresse Honor, next be slaine,

And like a Goth and Vandall rize,

Deface Records, and Histories

15Of your owne arts and triumphs over men,

And without such advantage kill me then.

For I could muster up as well as you

My Gyants, and my Witches too,

Which are vast Constancy, and Secretnesse,

20But these I neyther looke for, nor professe;

Kill mee as Woman, let mee die

As a meere man; doe you but try

Your passive valor, and you shall finde than,

In that you'have odds enough of any man.

SHEE'IS dead; And all which die

To their first Elements resolve;

And wee were mutuall Elements to us,

And made of one another.

5My body then doth hers involve,

And those things whereof I consist, hereby

In me abundant grow, and burdenous,

And nourish not, but smother.

My fire of Passion, sighes of ayre,

10Water of teares, and earthly sad despaire,

Which my materialls bee,

But neere worne out by loves securitie,

Shee, to my losse, doth by her death repaire,

And I might live long wretched so

15But that my fire doth with my fuell grow.

Now as those Active Kings

Whose foraine conquest treasure brings,

Receive more, and spend more, and soonest breake:

This (which I am amaz'd that I can speake)

20This death, hath with my store

My use encreas'd.

And so my soule more earnestly releas'd,

Will outstrip hers; As bullets flowen before

A latter bullet may o'rtake, the pouder being more.

THOU art not so black, as my heart,

Nor halfe so brittle, as her heart, thou art;

What would'st thou say? shall both our properties by thee bee spoke,

Nothing more endlesse, nothing sooner broke?

5Marriage rings are not of this stuffe;

Oh, why should ought lesse precious, or lesse tough

Figure our loves? Except in thy name thou have bid it say,

I'am cheap, and nought but fashion, fling me'away.

Yet stay with mee since thou art come,

10Circle this fingers top, which did'st her thombe.

Be justly proud, and gladly safe, that thou dost dwell with me,

She that, Oh, broke her faith, would soon breake thee.

I NEVER stoop'd so low, as they

Which on an eye, cheeke, lip, can prey,

Seldome to them, which soare no higher

Then vertue or the minde to'admire,

5For sense, and understanding may

Know, what gives fuell to their fire:

My love, though silly, is more brave,

For may I misse, when ere I crave,

If I know yet, what I would have.

10If that be simply perfectest

Which can by no way be exprest

But Negatives, my love is so.

To All, which all love, I say no.

If any who deciphers best,

15What we know not, our selves, can know,

Let him teach mee that nothing; This

As yet my ease, and comfort is,

Though I speed not, I cannot misse.

TAKE heed of loving mee,

At least remember, I forbade it thee;

Not that I shall repaire my'unthrifty wast

Of Breath and Blood, upon thy sighes, and teares,

5By being to thee then what to me thou wast;

But, so great Joy, our life at once outweares,

Then, least thy love, by my death, frustrate bee,

If thou love mee, take heed of loving mee.

Take heed of hating mee,

10Or too much triumph in the Victorie.

Not that I shall be mine owne officer,

And hate with hate againe retaliate;

But thou wilt lose the stile of conquerour,

If I, thy conquest, perish by thy hate.

15Then, least my being nothing lessen thee,

If thou hate mee, take heed of hating mee.

Yet, love and hate mee too,

So, these extreames shall neithers office doe;

Love mee, that I may die the gentler way;

20Hate mee, because thy love is too great for mee;

Or let these two, themselves, not me decay;

So shall I, live, thy Stage, not triumph bee;

Lest thou thy love and hate and mee undoe,

To let mee live, O love and hate mee too.

SO, so, breake off this last lamenting kisse,

Which sucks two soules, and vapors Both away,

Turne thou ghost that way, and let mee turne this,

And let our selves benight our happiest day,

5We ask'd none leave to love; nor will we owe

Any, so cheape a death, as saying, Goe;

Goe; and if that word have not quite kil'd thee,

Ease mee with death, by bidding mee goe too.

Oh, if it have, let my word worke on mee,

10And a just office on a murderer doe.

Except it be too late, to kill me so,

Being double dead, going, and bidding, goe.

FOR the first twenty yeares, since yesterday,

I scarce beleev'd, thou could'st be gone away,

For forty more, I fed on favours past,

And forty'on hopes, that thou would'st, they might last.

5Teares drown'd one hundred, and sighes blew out two,

A thousand, I did neither thinke, nor doe,

Or not divide, all being one thought of you;

Or in a thousand more, forgot that too.

Yet call not this long life; But thinke that I

10Am, by being dead, Immortall; Can ghosts die?

NO Lover saith, I love, nor any other

Can judge a perfect Lover;

Hee thinkes that else none can, nor will agree

That any loves but hee:

5I cannot say I lov'd, for who can say

Hee was kill'd yesterday?

Love with excesse of heat, more yong then old,

Death kills with too much cold;

Wee dye but once, and who lov'd last did die,

10Hee that saith twice, doth lye:

For though hee seeme to move, and stirre a while,

It doth the sense beguile.

Such life is like the light which bideth yet

When the lights life is set,

15Or like the heat, which fire in solid matter

Leaves behinde, two houres after.

Once I lov'd and dy'd; and am now become

Mine Epitaph and Tombe.

Here dead men speake their last, and so do I;

20Love-slaine, loe, here I lye.

WHILST yet to prove,

I thought there was some Deitie in love

So did I reverence, and gave

Worship; as Atheists at their dying houre

5Call, what they cannot name, an unknowne power,

As ignorantly did I crave:

Thus when

Things not yet knowne are coveted by men,

Our desires give them fashion, and so

10As they waxe lesser, fall, as they sise, grow.

But, from late faire

His hignesse sitting in a golden Chaire,

Is not lesse cared for after three dayes

By children, then the thing which lovers so

15Blindly admire, and with such worship wooe;

Being had, enjoying it decayes:

And thence,

What before pleas'd them all, takes but one sense,

And that so lamely, as it leaves behinde

20A kinde of sorrowing dulnesse to the minde.

Ah cannot wee,

As well as Cocks and Lyons jocund be,

After such pleasures? Unlesse wise

Nature decreed (since each such Act, they say,

25Diminisheth the length of life a day)

This, as shee would man should despise

The sport;

Because that other curse of being short,

And onely for a minute made to be,

30(Eagers desire) to raise posterity.

Since so, my minde

Shall not desire what no man else can finde,

I'll no more dote and runne

To pursue things which had indammag'd me.

35And when I come where moving beauties be,

As men doe when the summers Sunne

Growes great,

Though I admire their greatnesse, shun their heat;

Each place can afford shadowes. If all faile,

40'Tis but applying worme-seed to the Taile.

STAND still, and I will read to thee

A Lecture, Love, in loves philosophy.

These three houres that we have spent,

Walking here, Two shadowes went

5Along with us, which we our selves produc'd;

But, now the Sunne is just above our head,

We doe those shadowes tread;

And to brave clearnesse all things are reduc'd.

So whilst our infant loves did grow,

10Disguises did, and shadowes, flow,

From us, and our cares; but, now 'tis not so.

That love hath not attain'd the high'st degree,

Which is still diligent lest others see.

Except our loves at this noone stay,

15We shall new shadowes make the other way.

As the first were made to blinde

Others; these which come behinde

Will worke upon our selves, and blind our eyes.

If our loves faint, and westwardly decline;

20To me thou, falsly, thine,

And I to thee mine actions shall disguise.

The morning shadowes weare away,

But these grow longer all the day,

But oh, loves day is short, if love decay.

25Love is a growing, or full constant light;

And his first minute, after noone, is night.

SEND me some token, that my hope may live,

Or that my easelesse thoughts may sleep and rest;

Send me some honey to make sweet my hive,

That in my passion I may hope the best.

5I beg noe ribbond wrought with thine owne hands,

To knit our loves in the fantastick straine

Of new-toucht youth; nor Ring to shew the stands

Of our affection, that as that's round and plaine,

So should our loves meet in simplicity;

10No, nor the Coralls which thy wrist infold,

Lac'd up together in congruity,

To shew our thoughts should rest in the same hold;

No, nor thy picture, though most gracious,

And most desir'd, because best like the best;

15Nor witty Lines, which are most copious,

Within the Writings which thou hast addrest.

Send me nor this, nor that, t'increase my store,

But swear thou thinkst I love thee, and no more.

HE that cannot chuse but love,

And strives against it still,

Never shall my fancy move;

For he loves 'gaynst his will;

5Nor he which is all his own,

And can att pleasure chuse,

When I am caught he can be gone,

And when he list refuse.

Nor he that loves none but faire,

10For such by all are sought;

Nor he that can for foul ones care,

For his Judgement then is nought:

Nor he that hath wit, for he

Will make me his jest or slave;

15Nor a fool, for when others...,

He can neither....

Nor he that still his Mistresse payes,

For she is thrall'd therefore:

Nor he that payes not, for he sayes

20Within, shee's worth no more.

Is there then no kinde of men

Whom I may freely prove?

I will vent that humour then

In mine own selfe love.