VENUS AND ADONIS. 'Vilia miretur vulgus; mihi flavus Apollo TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE HENRY WRIOTHESLY, EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON, AND BARON OF TICHFIELD. RIGHT HONORABLE, I KNOW not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines to your lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burden: only, if your honor seem but pleased, I account myself highly praised, and vow to take advantage of all idle hours, till I have honored you with some graver labor. But if the first heir of my invention prove deformed, I shall be sorry it had so noble a god-father, and never after ear so barren a land, for fear it yield me still so bad a harvest. I leave it to your honorable survey, and your honor to your heart's content; which I wish may always answer your own wish and the world's hopeful expectation. EVEN as the sun with purple-color'd face The field's chief flower, sweet above compare, 'Vouchsafe, thou wonder, to alight thy steed, Over one arm the lusty courser's reign, Your honor's in all duty, She feedeth on the steam as on a prey, Look, how a bird lies tangled in a net, Which bred more beauty in his angry eyes: 70 Rain added to a river that is rank Still she entreats, and prettily entreats, 8 Her best is better'd with a more delight. But when her lips were ready for his pay, Never did passenger in summer's heat [turn. O, pity,gan she cry, flint-hearted boy! 'Tis but a kiss I beg: why art thou coy? 'I have been woo'd, as I entreat thee now, Even by the stern and direful god of war, Whose sinewy neck in battle ne'er did bow, Who conquers where he comes in every jar, 100 Yet hath he been my captive and my slave, And begg'd for that which thou unask'd shalt have. 'Over my altars hath he hung his lance, His batter'd shield, his uncontrolled crest, And for my sake hath learn'd to sport and dance, To toy, to wanton, dally, smile and jest, Scorning his churlish drum and ensign red, Making my arms his field, his tent my bed. Thus he that overruled I oversway'd, Leading him prisoner in a red-rose chain: Strong-tempered steel his stronger strength obey'd, Yet was he servile to my coy disdain. 110 O, be not proud, nor brag not of thy might, For mastering her that foil'd the god of fight! "Touch but my lips with those fair lips of thine,Though mine be not so fair, yet are they red,The kiss shall be thine own as well as mine. What seest thou in the ground? hold up thy head: Look in mine eyeballs, there thy beauty lies; Then why not lips on lips, since eyes in eyes? 'Art thou ashamed to kiss? then wink again, 121 And I will wink; so shall the day seem night; Love keeps his revels where there are but twain; Be bold to play, our sport is not in sight: These blue-vein'd violets whereon we lean Never can blab, nor know not what we mean. The tender spring upon thy tempting lip Shows thee uuripe; yet mayst thou well be tasted: Make use of time, let not advantage slip; Beauty within itself should not be wasted: 130 Fair flowers that are not gather'd in their My beauty as the spring doth yearly grow, My flesh is soft and plump, my marrow burning; [hand felt, My smooth moist hand, were it with thy Would in thy palm dissolve, or seem to melt. 'Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear, Or, like a fairy, trip upon the green, Or, like a nymph, with long dishevell'd hair, Dance on the sands, and yet no footing seen: Love is a spirit all compact of fire, 149 Not gross to sink, but light, and will aspire, 'Witness this primrose bank whereon I lie; These forceless flowers like sturdy trees support [the sky, Two strengthless doves will draw me through From morn till night, even where I list to sport me; me: Is love so light, sweet boy, and may it be That thou shouldst think it heavy unto thee? 'Is thine own heart to thine own face affected? Can thy right hand seize love upon thy left? Then woo thyself, be of thyself rejected, Steal thine own freedom and complain on theft. Narcissus so himself himself forsook, 161 And died to kiss his shadow in the brook. 'Torches are made to light, jewels to wear, Dainties to taste, fresh beauty for the use, Herbs for their smell, and sappy plants to bear: Things growing to themselves are growth's abuse: [beauty; Seeds spring from seeds and beauty breedeth Thou wast begot; to get it is thy duty. 'Upon the earth's increase why shouldst thou feed, Unless the earth with thy increase be fed? 170 And so, in spite of death, thou dost survive, In that thy likeness still is left alive.' 180 By this the love-sick queen began to sweat, 'Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel, 'What am I, that thou shouldst contemn me this? And swelling passion doth provoke a pause: 221 And now her sobs do her intendments break. Sometimes she shakes her head and then his hand, Now gazeth she on him, now on the ground; Sometimes her arms infold him like a band: She would, he will not in her arms be bound; And when from thence he struggles to be gone, She locks her lily fingers one in one. 'Fondling,' she saith, 'since I have hemm'd thee here Within the circuit of this ivory pale, 230 I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my Sweet bottom-grass, and high delightful plain, 240 At this Adonis smiles as in disdain, These lovely caves, these round enchanting pits Poor queen of love, in thine own law forlorn, To love a cheek that smiles at thee in scorn! Now which way shall she turn? what shall she say? [ing; Her words are done, her woes the more increasThe time is spent, her object will away, And from her twining arms doth urge releasing 'Pity,' she cries.' some favor, some remorse!' Away he springs and hasteth to his horse. But, lo, from forth a copse that neighbors by, A breeding jennet, lusty, young and proud, 260 Adonis' trampling courser doth espy, And forth she rushes, snorts and neighs aloud: The strong-neck'd steed, being tied unto a tree, Breaketh his rein, and to her straight goes he. Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds, And now his woven girths he breaks asunder, The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds, Whose hollow womb resounds like heaven's thunder; The iron bit he crusheth 'tween his teeth, Controlling what he was controlled with. 270 His ears up-prick'd; his braided hanging mane Upon his compass'd crest now stand on end; His nostrils drink the air, and forth again, As from a furnace, vapors doth he send: His eye, which scornfully glisters like fire, Shows his hot courage and his high desire. Sometime he trots, as if he told the steps, With gentle majesty and modest pride; Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps, As who should say 'Lo, thus my strength is tried, 280 And this I do to captivate the eye Of the fair breeder that is standing by." His flattering 'Holla,' or his 'Stand, f What recketh he his rider's angry stir, say What cares he now for curb or pricking spur? For rich caparisons or trapping gay? He sees his love, and nothing else he sees, For nothing else with his proud sight agrees. Sometime he scuds far off, and there he stares; For through his mane and tail the high wind sings, wings. Fanning the hairs, who wave like feather'd He looks upon his love and neighs unto her, Then, like a melancholy malcontent, All swoln with chafing, down Adonis sits, 331 An oven that is stopp'd, or river stay'd, But when the heart's attorney once is mute, He sees her coming, and begins to glow, O, what a sight it was, wistly to view Full gently now she takes him by the hand, 361 This beauteous combat, wilful and unwilling, Show'd like two silver doves that sit a-billing. Once more the engine of her thoughts began: fairest mover on this mortal round, Would thou wert as I am, and I a man, 369 My heart all whole as thine,thy heart my wound: For one sweet look thy help I would assure thee, [cure thee.' Though nothing but my body's bane would 'Give me my hand,' saith he, 'why dost thou feel it?' [have it; 'Give me my heart,' saith she, 'and thou shalt 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, Because Adonis' heart hath made mine hard. 'How like a jade he stood, tied to the tree, 391 400 O, learn to love; the lesson is but plain, 'I know not love,' quoth he, 'nor will not know it, For I have heard it is a life in death, [breath. That laughs and weeps, and all but with a 'Who wears a garment shapeless and unfinish'd? Who plucks the bud before one leaf put forth? If springing things be any jot diminish'd, They wither in their prime, prove nothing worth; The colt that's back'd and burden'd being young Loseth his pride and never waxeth strong. 420 "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: Dismiss your vows, your feigned tears, your flattery; [tery.' For where a heart is hard they make no bat 'What! canst thou talk?' quoth she, 'hast thou a tongue? O, would thou hadst not, or I had no hearing' Thymermaid's voice hath done me doublewrong; I had my load before, now press'd with bearing: Melodious discord, heavenly tune harshsounding, 431 Ear's deep sweet music, and heart's deep-sore wounding. Had I no eyes but ears, my ears would love That inward beauty and invisible, Or were I deaf, thy outward parts would move Each part in me that were but sensible: Though neither eyes nor ears, to hear nor see, Yet should I be in love by touching thee. 'Say, that the sense of feeling were bereft me, And that I could not see, nor hear, nor touch, 440 And nothing but the very smell were left me, Yet would my love to thee be still as much; For from the stillitory of thy face excelling Comes breath perfumed that breedeth love by smelling. 'But, O, what banquet wert thou to the taste, Being nurse and feeder of the other four! Would they not wish the feast might ever last, And bid suspicion double-lock the door, Lest Jealousy, that sour unwelcome guest, 449 Should, by his stealing in, disturb the feast?" Once more the ruby-color'd portal open'd, Which to his speech did honey passage yield; Like a red morn, that ever yet betoken'd Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field, 460 Sorrow to shepherds, woe unto the birds, For on the grass she lies as she were slain, 480 He wrings her nose, he strikes her on the cheeks, Shone like the moon in water seen by night. O, where am I?' quoth she, 'in earth or heaven, Or in the ocean drench'd, or in the fire? But now I lived, and life was death's annoy; O, thou didst kill me: kill me once again. 199 Thy eyes' shrewd tutor, that hard heart of thine, Hath taught them scornful tricks and such disdain That they have murder'd this poor heart of mine: Long may they kiss each other, for this cure! 'Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted, What bargains may I make, still to be sealing? |