THE FLEA. MARK but this flea, and mark in this, A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead, Yet this enjoys, before it woo, And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two, And this, alas! is more than we could do. Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare, Where we almost, nay more than marry'd are. Our marriage bed and marriage temple is ; Cruel and sudden, hast thou since Wherein could this flea guilty be, Except in that blood, which it suck'd from thee? Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thou BREAK OF DAY. STAY, O sweet, and do not rise, The light, that shines, comes from thine eyes; 'Tis true, 'tis day; what though it be? Love, which in spite of darkness brought us hither, Should in despite of light keep us together. Light hath no tongue, but is all eye; If it could speak as well as spy, This were the worst that it could say, That being well, I fain would stay, And that I lov'd my heart and honour so, That I would not from her, that had them, go. Must business thee from hence remove? The poor, the foul, the false, love can He which hath business, and makes love, doth do Such wrong, as when a married man doth woo. A VALEDICTION OF MY NAME, IN THE WINDOW. Mr name engrav'd herein, Doth contribute my firmness to this glass, 'Tis much that glass should be As all confessing and through-shine as I, 'Tis more that it shows thee to thee, And clear reflects thee to thine eye. But all such rules love's magic can undo, Here you see me, and I see you. As no one point nor dash, Who have the pattern with you still. VALEDICTION TO HIS BOOK. I'LL tell thee now (dear love) what thou shalt do To anger destiny, as she doth us; How I shall stay, though she eloigne me thus, How thine may out-endure Her, who from Pindar could allure, Study our manuscripts, those myriads Of letters, which have past 'twixt thee and me, Thence write our annals, and in them will be To all, whom love's subliming fire invades, Rule and example found; There, the faith of any ground No schismatic will dare to wound, That sees how love this grace to us affords, To make, to keep, to use, to be, these his records. This book, as long liv'd as the elements, Or as the world's form, this all-graved tomb, We for love's clergy only are instruments; Should again the ravenous Vandals and Goths invade us, Learning were safe in this our universe, [verse. Schools might learn sciences, spheres music, angels LOVE'S ALCHYMY. SOME that have deeper digg'd Love's mine than I, Say, where his centric happiness doth lie: I've lov'd, and got, and told, But should I love, get, tell, till I were old, And as no chymic yet th' elixir got, So lovers dream a rich and long delight, Our ease, our thrift, our honour, and our day, Endure the short scorn of a bridegroom's play! 'Tis not the bodies marry, but the minds, Which he in her angelic finds, Would swear as justly, that he hears, In that day's rude hoarse minstrelsy, the spheres. Hope not for mind in women; at their best Sweetness and wit, they 're but mummy possest. |