Cowley, Denham, Milton

Add one more likeness (which I'm sure you | Then shall the world my noble ruin see,
Some pity and some envy me;
Then she herself, the mighty she,

can)

And let me and my sun beget a man!

MY PICTURE,

HERE, take my likeness with you, whilst 'tis so;
For, when from hence you go,
The next Sun's rising will behold
Me pale, and lean, and old:

The man who did this picture draw,
Will swear next day my face he never saw,

I really believe, within a while,

If you upon this shadow smile,
Your presence will such vigour give,
(Your presence, which makes all things
live!)

And absence so much alter me,

This will the substance, I the shadow, be.

But thou, who (if I know thee right)
I' th' substance dost not much delight,
Wilt rather send again for me,
Who then shall but my picture's picture be.

THE CONCEALMENT,

No; to what purpose should I speak?

No, wretched heart! swell till you break.
She cannot love me if she would;
And, to say truth, 'twere pity that she should.
No; to the grave thy sorrows bear;
As silent as they will be there :

Since that lov'd hand this mortal wound does give,

So handsomely the thing contrive,
That she may guiltless of it live;
So perish, that her killing thee
May a chance-medley, and no murder, be.

'Tis nobler much for me, that I
By her beauty, not her anger, die:
This will look justly, and become
An execution; that a martyrdom.

The censuring world will ne'er refrain
From judging men by thunder slain.
She must be angry, sure, if I should be

So bold to ask her to make me,
By being her's, happier than she!
I will not; 'tis a milder fate

To fall by her not loving, than her hate.

Shall grace my funerals with this truth; ""Twas only love destroy'd the gentle youth!"

When from your well-wrought cabinet you take it, Give me but the disposal of one dart,
I have the trouble, not the gains, of it:

And your bright looks awake it,
Ah! be not frighted if you see

The new-soul'd picture gaze on thee,
And hear it breathe a sigh or two;
For those are the first things that it will do.
My rival-image will be then thought blest,
And laugh at me as dispossest;

And yet this death of mine, I fear,
Will ominous to her appear;
When, sound in every other part,
Her sacrifice is found without an heart;
For the last tempest of my death
Shall sigh out that too with my breath,

And then (I'll ask no other benefit)
Heat as you please your furnace in my heart;
So sweet's revenge to me, that I
Upon my foe would gladly die.

Deep into her bosom would I strike the dart,
Deeper than woman e'er was struck by thee;
Thou giv'st them small wounds, and so far from
th' heart,

They flutter still about, inconstantly:

Curse on thy goodness, whom we find
Civil to none but woman-kind!

Vain god! who women dost thyself adore!
Their wounded hearts do still retain the power
To travel and to wander, as before:
Thy broken arrows 'twixt that sex and ours
So unjustly are distributed,

They take the feathers, we the head,

THE DISTANCE,

I'VE followed thee a year, at least,

And never stopp'd myself to rest;
But yet can thee o'ertake no more
Than this day can the day that went before.
In this our fortunes equal prove

To stars, which govern them above;
Our stars, that move for ever round,
With the same distance still betwixt them found

In vain, alas! in vain I strive
The wheel of Fate faster to drive;
Since, if around it swiftlier fly,
She in it mends her pace as much as I

Hearts by Love strangely shuffled are, That there can never meet a pair! Tamelier than worms are lovers slain! The wounded heart ne'er turns to wound again,

THE INCREASE.

THOUGHT, I'll swear, I could have lov'd no more
Than I had dope before;

LOVE'S VISIBILITY...LOOKING ON HIS MISTRESS.

RESOLVED TO LOVE.

But you as easily might account, Till to the top of numbers you amount, As cast up my love's score.

WONDER What the grave and wise
Think of all us that love;
Whether our pretty fooleries
Their mirth or anger move:
They understand not breath that words does want
Our sighs to them are insignificant.

Ten thousand millions was the sum;
Millions of endless millions are to come.
I'm sure her beauties cannot greater grow;
Why should my love do so?
A real cause at first did move;
But mine own fancy now drives on my love,
With shadows from itself that flow.
My love, as we in numbers see,
By cyphers is increas'd eternally.

So the new-made and untry'd spheres above
Took their first turn from th' hand of Jove;
But are, since that beginning, found
By their own forms to move for ever round.
All violent motions short do prove;
But, by the length, 'tis plain to see
That love's a motion natural to me.

LOVE'S VISIBILITY.

WITH much of pain, and all the art I knew,

Have I endeavour'd hitherto

To hide my love, and yet all will not do.

The world perceives it, and, it may be, she;
Though so discreet and good she be,
By hiding it, to teach that skill to me.

Men without love have oft so cunning grown,

That something like it they have shown;
But none who had it ever seem'd t'have none.
Love's of a strangely open, simple kind,
Can no arts or disguises find,

But thinks none sees it 'cause itself is blind.
The very eye betrays our inward smart:
Love of himself left there a part,
When through it he past into the heart.
Or if by chance the face betray not it,
But keep the secret wisely, yet,
Like drunkenness, into the tongue 'twill get.

LOOKING ON, AND DISCOURSİNG
WITH, HIS MISTRESS.
THESE full two hours now have I gazing been,
What comfort by it can I gain?
To look on Heaven with mighty gulphs between
Was the great miser's greatest pain;
So near was he to Heaven's delight,
As with the blest converse he might,
Yet could not get one drop of water by 't.

Ah wretch! I seem to touch her now; but, oh,
What boundless spaces do us part!
Fortune, and friends, and all Earth's empty show,
My lowness, and her high desert:
But these might conquerable prove;
Nothing does me so far remove,

As her hard soul's aversion from my love.
So travellers, that lose their way by night,
If from afar they chance t'espy
Th'uncertain glimmerings of a taper's light,

Take flattering hopes, and think it nigh;
Till, wearied with the fruitless pain,
They sit them down, and weep in vain,
And there in darkness and despair remain.

One of them saw me, th' other day,

Touch the dear hand which I admire ;
My soul was melting straight away,
And dropt before the fire:

This silly wise-man, who pretends to know,
Ask'd why I look'd so pale, and trembled so?
Another, from my mistress' door

Saw me with eyes all wat'ry come;
Nor could the hidden cause explore,

But thought some smoke was in the room :
Such ignorance from unwounded learning came;
He knew tears made by smoke, but not by flame.
If learn'd in other things you be,
And have in love no skill,

117

To which with trembling reverence it does bend;

Go bid the stones a journey upwards make;

Go bid th'ambitious flame no more ascend:
And, when these false to their old motions
prove,
Then shall I cease thee, thee alone, to love.
The fast-link'd chain of everlasting Fate

Does nothing tie more strong than me to you;
My fixt love hangs not on your love or hate,

But will be still the same, whate'er you do You cannot kill my love with your disdain: Wound it you may, and make it live in pain, Me, mine example, let the Stoics use,

Their sad and cruel doctrine to maintain; Let all predestinators me produce,

Who struggle with eternal bonds in vain:
This fire I'm born to--but 'tis she must tell,
Whether 't be beams of Heaven or flames of Hell,
You, who men's fortunes in their faces read,

To find out mine, look not, alas! on me;
But mark her face, and all the features heed;
For only there is writ my destiny:
Or, if stars show it, gaze not on the skies
But study the astrology of her eyes.

If thou find there kind and propitious rays,

What Mars or Saturn threaten I'll not fear; I well believe the fate of mortal days

Is writ in Heaven; but oh, my heaven is there. What can men learn from stars they scarce can see?

Two great lights rule the world, and her two me

THE HEART-BREAKING.

Ir gave a piteous groan, and so it broke ;
In vain it something would have spoke:
The love within too strong for't was,
Like poison put into a Venice-glass.

I thought that this some remedy might prove;
But oh, the mighty serpent Love,
Cut by this chance in pieces small,
In all still liv'd, and still it stung in all.

And now, alas! each little broken part

Feels the whole pain of all my heart; And every smallest corner still Lives with that torment which the whole did kill. Even so rude armies, when the field they quit, And into several quarters get; Each troop does spoil and ruin more Than ail join'd in one body did before. How many loves reign in my bosom now! How many loves, yet all of you! Thus have I chang'd with evil fate My monarch-love into a tyrant-state.

Nay more; thou mak'st me worship thee,
And would'st the rule of my religion be:
Did ever tyrant claim such power as you,
To be both emperor and pope too?
The public miseries, and my private fate,
Deserve some tears; but greedy thou
(Insatiate maid!) wilt not allow

That I one drop from thee should alienate:
Nor wilt thou grant my sins a part,
Though the sole cause of most of them thou art;
Counting my tears thy tribute and thy due,
Since first mine eyes I gave to you.

Thou all my joys and all my hopes dust claim;
Thou ragest like a fire in me,
Converting all things into thee;

Nought can resist, or not increase the flame:
Nay, every grief and every fear
Thou dost devour, unless thy stamp it bear:
Thy presence, like the crowned basilisk's breath,
All other serpents puts to death.

As men in Hell are from diseases free,
So from all other ills am I ;
Free from their known formality:

But all pains eminently lie in thee!
Alas, alas! I hope in vain
My conquer'd soul from out thine hands to gain;
Since all the natives there thou 'ast overthrown,

And planted garrisons of thine own.

MAIDENHEAD.

THOU worst estate ev'n of the sex that 's worst ;
Therefore by Nature made at first
T'attend the weakness of our birth!
Slight outward curtain to the nuptial bed!
Thou case to buildings not yet finished!

Who, like the centre of the Earth,
Dost heaviest things attract to thee,
Though thou a point imaginary be!

A thing God thought for mankind so unfit,
That his first blessing ruin'd it.
Cold, frozen nurse of fiercest fires!
Who, like the parched plains of Afric's sand,
(A sterile, and a wild unlovely land!)

Art always scorch'd with hot desires,
Yet barren quite, didst thou not bring
Monsters and serpents forth thyself to sting!
Thou that bewitchest men, whilst thou dost dwell
Like a close conjurer in his cell,

And fear'st the day's discovering eye! No wonder 'tis at all that thou should'st be Such tedious and unpleasant company,

Who liv'st so melancholily!

Thou thing of subtile, slippery kind, Which women lose, and yet no man can find! Although I think thou never found wilt be, Yet I'm resolv'd to search for thee; The search itself rewards the pains: So, though the chymic his great secret miss, (For neither it in art nor Nature is)

Yet things well worth his toil he gains; And does his charge and labour pay With good unsought experiments by the way. Say what thou wilt, chastity is no more Thee, than a porter is his door. In vain to honour they pretend, [walls; Who guard themselves with ramparts and with Them only Fame the truly valiant calls,

Who can an open breach defend.

Of thy quick loss can be no doubt, Within so hated, and so lov'd without.

IMPOSSIBILITIES.

IMPOSSIBILITIES! oh no, there's none;

Could mine bring thy heart captive home, As easily other dangers were o'erthrown,

As Cæsar, after vanquish'd Rome, His little Asian foes did overcome. True lovers oft by Fortune are envied;

Oft Earth and Hell against them strive; But Providence engages on their side,

And a good end at last does give : At last, just men and lovers always thrive.

As stars. (not powerful else) when they conjoia, Change, as they please, the world's estate; So thy heart in conjunction with mine

Shall our own fortunes regulate;

And to our stars themselves prescribe a fate.

"Twould grieve me much to find some bold ro

mance,

That should two kind examples shew, Which before us in wonders did advance; Not that Ithought that story true, But none should fancy more, than I would de

Through spite of our worst enemies, thy friends;
Through local banishment from thee; [ends,
Through the loud thoughts of less-concerning
As easy shall my passage be,

As was the amorous youth's o'er Helle's sea:
In vain the winds, in vain the billows, roar;
In vain the stars their aid deny'd;

He saw the Sestian tower on th' other shore:
Shall th' Hellespont our loves divide?
No, not the Atlantic ocean's boundless tide.
Such seas betwixt us easily conquer'd are;
But, gentle maid! do not deny

To let thy beams shine on me from afar ;
And still the taper let me espy:
For, when thy light goes out, I sink and die.

SILENCE.

CURSE on this tongue, that has my heart betray'd,
And his great secret open laid!
For, of all persons, chiefly she
Should not the ills I suffer know;
Since 'tis a thing might dangerous grow,
Only in her to pity me:
Since 'tis for me to lose my life more fit,
Than 'tis for her to save and ransom it.
Ah! never more shall thy unwilling ear
My helpless story hear;
Discourse and talk awake does keep
The rude unquiet pain

That in my breast does reign;

Silence perhaps may make it sleep: I'll bind that sore up I did ill reveal; The wound, if once it close, may chance to heal. No, 'twill ne'er heal; my love will never die, Though it should speechless lie. A river, ere it meet the sea, As well might stay its source, As my love can his course, Unless it join and mix with thee: If any end or stop of it be found,

We know the flood runs still, though under ground.

The fat, like plenty, fills my heart;

The lean, with love makes me too so:
If straight, her body's Cupid's dart

To me; if crooked, 'tis his bow:
Nay, age itself does me to rage incline,
And strength to women gives, as well as wine.
Just half as large as Charity`

My richly-landed Love's become; And, judg'd aright, is Constancy, Though it take up a larger room: Him, who loves always one, why should they call More constant than the man loves always all? Thus with unwearied wings I flee

Through all Love's gardens and his fields; And, like the wise, industrious bee, No weed but honey to me yields! Honey still spent this diligence still supplies, Though I return not home with laden thighs. My soul at first indeed did prove

Of pretty strength against a dart, Till I this habit got of love;

But my consum'd and wasted neart, Once burnt to tinder with a strong desire, Since that, by every spark is set on fire.

THE CONSTANT.

GREAT and wise conqueror, who, where'er Thou com'st, dost fortify, and settle there!

Then all the fields and woods shall with it ring;
Then Echo's burthen it shall be ;
Then all the birds in several notes shall sing,
And all the rivers murmur, thee;
Then every wind the sound shall upwards bear,
And softly whisper 't to some angel's ear.
Then shall thy name through all my verse be
spread,

Meanwhile I will not dare to make a name

To represent thee by;

Adam (God's nomenclator) could not frame

One that enough should signify: Astrea or Celia as unfit would prove For thee, as 'tis to call the Deity Jove.

Ah, charming maid! let not Ill-fortune see
Th' attire thy sorrow wears,

Nor know the beauty of thy tears;
For she 'll still come to dress herself in thee,
As stars reflect on waters, so I spy

In every drop, methinks, her eye.
The baby, which lives there, and always plays
In that illustrious sphere,

Like a Narcissus does appear,
Whilst in his flood the lovely boy did gaze.
Ne'er yet did I behold such glorious weather,
As this sun-shine and rain together.
Pray Heaven her forehead, that pure hill of snow,
(For some such fountain we must find,
To waters of so fair a kind)

Melt not, to feed that beauteous stream below!
Ah, mighty Love! that it were inward heat

Which made this precious limbeck sweat!
But what, alas! ah, what does it avail,

WEEPING.

SEE where she sits, and in what comely wise
Drops tears more fair than others' eyes!

That she weeps tears so wondrous cold,
As scarce the ass's hoof can hold,
So cold, that I admire they fall not hail?

DISCRETION.

DISCREET! what means this word discreet?
A curse on all discretion!

This barbarous term you will not meet
In all Love's lexicon.

Jointure, portion, gold, estate,

Houses, household-stuff, or land,
(The low conveniences of Fate)

Are Greek no lovers understand.
Believe me, beauteous one! when love

Enters into a breast.

The two first things it does remove
Are friends and interests.

Passion 's half blind, nor can endure
The careful, scrupulous eyes;
Or else I could not love, I'm sure,
One who in love were wise.

Men, in such tempests tost about,
Will, without grief or pain,
Cast all their goods and riches out,
Themselves their port to gain.

Thick as the flowers in meadows lie,

And, when in future times they shall be read,

(As sure, I think, they will not die) If any critic doubt that they be mine,

THE WAITING-MAID.

Men by that stamp shall quickly know the coin. Tuy Maid! ah! find some nobler theme

Whereon thy doubts to place;
Nor by a low suspect blaspheme
The glories of thy face.

As well might martyrs, who do choose
That sacred death to take,
Mourn for the cloaths which they must lose,
When they're bound naked to the stake.

Alas! she makes thee shine so fair,
So exquisitely bright,
That her dim lamp must disappear
Before thy potent light.

Three hours each morn in dressing thee
Maliciously are spent;
And make that beauty tyranny,
That's else a civil government.

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