'Give me my hand,' saith he; 'why dost thou feel it!' 'Give me my heart,' saith she, and thou shalt have it ; O, give it me, lest thy hard heart do steel it, And being steel'd, soft sighs can never grave it: Then love's deep groans I never shall regard, 'For shame,' he cries, 'let go, and let me go ; My day's delight is past, my horse is gone, And 'tis your fault I am bereft him so : I pray you hence, and leave me here alone; For all my mind, my thought, my busy care, Thus she replies: "Thy palfrey, as he should, Else, suffer'd, it will set the heart on fire: 380 The sea hath bounds, but deep desire hath none; How like a jade he stood, tied to the tree, Throwing the base thong from his bending crest, 'Who sees his true-love in her naked bed, Who is so faint, that dares not be so bold 'Let me excuse thy courser, gentle boy; And learn of him, I heartily beseech thee, To take advantage on presented joy; Though I were dumb, yet his proceedings teach thee: O, learn to love; the lesson is but plain, And once made perfect, never lost again.' 400 'I know not love,' quoth he, nor will not know it, Unless it be a boar, and then I chase it; 'Tis much to borrow, and I will not owe it; My love to love is love but to disgrace it; For I have heard it is a life in death, 410 That laughs, and weeps, and all but with a breath. 'Who wears a garment shapeless and unfinish'd? You hurt my hand with wringing; let us part, And leave this idle theme, this bootless chat : Remove your siege from my unyielding heart; To love's alarms it will not ope the gate: 420 Dismiss your vows, your feigned tears, your flattery; 'What! canst thou talk?' quoth she, 'hast thou a tongue ? O, would thou hadst not, or I had no hearing! Thy mermaid's voice hath done me double wrong; I had my load before, now press'd with bearing: Melodious discord, heavenly tune harsh-sounding, Ear's deep-sweet music, and heart's deep-sore wounding. 'Had I no eyes but ears, my ears would love Or were I deaf, thy outward parts would move Though neither eyes nor ears, to hear nor see, 'Say, that the sense of feeling were bereft me, very For from the stillitory of thy face excelling 430 440 Comes breath perfumed, that breedeth love by smelling. 'But, O, what banquet wert thou to the taste, Lest Jealousy, that sour unwelcome guest, Once more the ruby-colour'd portal open'd, Sorrow to shepherds, woe unto the birds, 450 This ill presage advisedly she marketh : Even as the wind is hush'd before it raineth, Or like the deadly bullet of a gun, 460 |