THE PROHIBITION

TAKE heed of loving me ;

At least remember, I forbade it thee;
Not that I shall repair my unthrifty waste
Of breath and blood upon thy sighs and tears,
By being to thee then what to me thou wast;
But so great joy our life at once outwears.
Then, lest thy love by my death frustrate be,
If thou love me, take heed of loving me.

Take heed of hating me,

Or too much triumph in the victory;
Not that I shall be mine own officer,
And hate with hate again retaliate;
But thou wilt lose the style of conqueror,
If I, thy conquest, perish by thy hate.
Then, lest my being nothing lessen thee,
If thou hate me, take heed of hating me.

Yet love and hate me too;

So these extremes shall ne'er their office do. Love me, that I may die the gentler way; Hate me, because thy love 's too great for me;

Or let these two, themselves, not me, decay;
So shall I live thy stage, not triumph be.
Lest thou thy love and hate and me undo,
O let me live, yet love and hate me too.

WITCHCRAFT BY A PICTURE

I FIX mine eye on thine, and there

Pity my picture burning in thine eye; My picture drown'd in a transparent tear, When I look lower I espy:

Hadst thou the wicked skill

By pictures made and marr'd, to kill,
How many ways mightst thou perform thy will!

But now I've drunk thy sweet salt tears,

And though thou pour more, I'll depart :

My picture vanish'd, vanish fears

That I can be endamaged by that art:

Though thou retain of me

One picture more, yet that will be,

Being in thine own heart, from all malice free.

A JET RING SENT'

THOU art not so black as my heart,

Nor half so brittle as her heart, thou art;

What wouldst thou say? shall both our properties by

thee be spoke,

Nothing more endless, nothing sooner broke?

Marriage rings are not of this stuff;

Oh, why should ought less precious, or less tough, Figure our loves? except in thy name thou have bid it

say

"I'm cheap, and nought but fashion; fling me away."

Yet stay with me since thou art come,

Circle this finger's top, which didst her thumb; Be justly proud, and gladly safe, that thou dost dwell

with me;

She that, O! broke her faith, would soon break thee.

THE BAITS

COME live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands and crystal brooks,
With silken lines and silver hooks.

There will the river whisp'ring run Warm'd by thine eyes, more than the sun; And there th' enamour'd fish will stay, Begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
Each fish, which every channel hath,
Will amorously to thee swim,

Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

If thou, to be so seen, be'st loth,
By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both,
And if myself have leave to see,

I need not their light, having thee.

Let others freeze with angling reeds,
And cut their legs with shells and weeds,