XLVIII. LOVE AND DEBT. A Fragment. THERE'S one request I make to Him That I were fairly out of debt, Then for to dance, to drink, and sing, 'Tis only being in love, or debt, He sees the golden age, wherein All things were free and common; He eats, he drinks, he takes his rest- Sir John Suckling. XLIX. THE NYMPH'S REPLY TO THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD. IF all the world and love were young, Time drives the flocks from field to fold The flowers do fade, and wanton fields Thy gown, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, Thy belt of straw, and ivy buds, But could youth last, and love still breed, Sir Walter Raleigh. L. OUT upon it, I have loved Three whole days together; And am like to love three more,- Time shall moult away his wings, Ere he shall discover In the whole wide world again But the spite on't is, no praise Love with me had made no stays Had it any been but she. Had it any been but she, And that very face, There had been at least, ere this, A dozen in her place! Sir John Suckling. LI. TO CHLOE, WHO WISHED HERSELF YOUNG ENOUGH FOR ME. A Fragment. CHLOE, why wish you that your years Would backwards run, till they meet mine, That perfect likeness, which endears Things unto things, might us combine? Our ages so in date agree, That twins do differ more than we. There are two births: the one when light And we must count our life from thence: Love then to us did new souls give, And in those souls did plant new powers; The breath we breathe is his, not ours; And now since you and I are such, Tell me what's yours and what is mine? So by this, I as well may be Too old for you, as you for me. William Cartwright. LII. THE MERIT OF INCONSTANCY. WHY dost thou say I am forsworn, It was last night I swore to thee Yet have I loved thee well, and long; Richard Lovelace. LIII. LOVE not me for comely grace, For these may fail, or turn to ill, Keep, therefore, a true woman's eye, Unknown. LIV. TO LUCASTA, ON GOING BEYOND THE SEAS. A Fragment. IF to be absent were to be Away from thee; Or that when I am gone You or I were alone; Then, my Lucasta, might I crave Pity from blustering wind, or swallowing wave. Though seas and land betwixt us both, All time and space controls: So then we do anticipate And are alive i' the skies, Can speak like spirits unconfined In heaven, their earthly bodies left behind. Richard Lovelace. LV. WERT thou yet fairer in thy feature, I'd rather marry a disease, Than court the thing I could not please: To him that doubts the heart's not his ? I love thee not because thou'rt fair, Softer than down, smoother than air; In either corner of thine eye: Would'st thou then know what it might be? — 'Tis I love thee 'cause thou lov'st me. Unknown. |