I

I held it truth, with him who sings
To one clear harp in divers tones,
That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of their dead selves to higher things.

But who shall so forecast the years
And find in loss a gain to match?
Or reach a hand through time to catch
The far-off interest of tears?

Let Love clasp Grief lest both be drowned,
Let darkness keep her raven gloss:

Narcissus and chrysanthemum —
lovely shapes together;
she places them in a porcelain vase,
two or three of each.
Bending low beside the little window
in flickering lamplight shadows,
my jade one has risen from her sick bed,
braving the cold air.

Our beauty is to us that which to men
Wit is, or strength unto the lion. Then
Let us use it whilst wee may;
Snatch those joyes that haste away.
Earth her winter-coat may cast,
And renew her beauty past;
But, our winter come, in vain
We sollicite spring again:
And when our furrows snow shall cover,
Love may return, but never Lover.

Let us use it while we may;
Snatch those joys that haste away.
Earth her winter-coat may cast,
And renew here beauty past;
But, our winter come, in vain
We solicit spring again:
And when our furrows snow shall cover,
Love may return, but never lover.

Learn women all from this housewifery,
Make you conserve of Lovers to keep by.
Had I no Sweet-heart but this sullen Boy,
Were I not well provided of a joy?
To extreme want how likely to be hurl'd
Is that ill houswife, who in all the world
But one Love onely, but one Servant hath?
Corsica will be no such fool. What's faith?
What's constancy? Tales which the jealous feign
To awe fond girls: names as absurd as vain.
Faith in a woman (if at least there be
Faith in a woman unreveal'd to me)
Is not a vertue, nor a heavenly grace,

To Charles Viner of Wadham College, Esquire

Wine, Friend, and Truth, the Proverb says, agree,
And now I'me heated take this Truth from me;
The Secrets that lay deep and hid before
Now rais'd by Wine swim up, and bubble o're;
Then take this riseing Truth I can't controul:
Thou dost not Love Me, Youth, with all thy Soul;
I know it, for this half of Life I boast
I have from you, the other half is lost:
When e're you smile I rival Gods above,
Grown perfect, and exulted by thy Love;
But when you frown, and when dislike you show,

E'en as a lovely flower,
So fair, so pure thou art;
I gaze on thee, and sadness
Comes stealing o'er my heart

My hands I fain had folded
Upon thy soft brown hair,
Praying that God may keep thee
So lovely, pure and fair.

Dearest friend, thou art in love,
Tortured with new woes thou art;
Darker grows it in thy brain,
Lighter grows it in thy heart.

Dearest friend, thou art in love,
Though thou hast not yet confessed.
I can see thy flaming heart
Burn already through thy vest.

STROPHE I

Oh Love! oh Love! whose shafts of fire
Invade the soul with sweet surprise,
Through the soft dews of young desire
Trembling in beauty's azure eyes!
Condemn not me the pangs to share
Thy too impassioned votaries bear,
That on the mind their stamp impress,
Indelible and measureless
For not the sun's descending dart,
Nor yet the lightning-brand of Jove,
Fall like the shaft that strikes the heart,

The mutilated choir boys
When I begin to sing
Complain about the awful noise
And call my voice too thick a thing.

When light their voices lift them up,
Bright notes against the ear,
Through trills and runs like crystal,
Ring delicate and clear.

They sing of Love that's grown desirous,
Of Love, and joy that is Love's inmost part,
And all the ladies swim through tears
Toward such a work of art.