Immortal clothing I put on So soon as, Julia, I am gone To mine eternal mansion. Thou, thou art here, to human sight Clothed all with incorrupted light; –But yet how more admir’dly bright Wilt thou appear, when thou art set In thy refulgent thronelet, That shin’st thus in thy counterfeit!

Whatsoever thing I see, Rich or poor although it be, –‘Tis a mistress unto me. Be my girl or fair or brown, Does she smile, or does she frown; Still I write a sweet-heart down. Be she rough, or smooth of skin; When I touch, I then begin For to let affection in. Be she […]

I held Love’s head while it did ache; But so it chanced to be, The cruel pain did his forsake, And forthwith came to me. Ai me! how shall my grief be still’d? Or where else shall we find One like to me, who must be kill’d For being too-too-kind?

I could but see thee yesterday Stung by a fretful bee; And I the javelin suck’d away, And heal’d the wound in thee. A thousand thorns, and briars, and stings I have in my poor breast; Yet ne’er can see that salve which brings My passions any rest. As Love shall help me, I admire […]

When I thy parts run o’er, I can’t espy In any one, the least indecency; But every line and limb diffused thence A fair and unfamiliar excellence; So that the more I look, the more I prove There’s still more cause why I the more should love.

What conscience, say, is it in thee, When I a heart had one, [won] To take away that heart from me, And to retain thy own? For shame or pity, now incline To play a loving part; Either to send me kindly thine, Or give me back my heart. Covet not both; but if thou […]

I dare not ask a kiss, I dare not beg a smile; Lest having that, or this, I might grow proud the while. No, no, the utmost share Of my desire shall be, Only to kiss that air That lately kissed thee,

Bid me to live, and I will live Thy Protestant to be; Or bid me love, and I will give A loving heart to thee. A heart as soft, a heart as kind, A heart as sound and free As in the whole world thou canst find, That heart I’ll give to thee. Bid that […]

Anthea laugh’d, and, fearing lest excess Might stretch the cords of civil comeliness She with a dainty blush rebuked her face, And call’d each line back to his rule and space.

Let fair or foul my mistress be, Or low, or tall, she pleaseth me; Or let her walk, or stand, or sit, The posture her’s, I’m pleased with it; Or let her tongue be still, or stir Graceful is every thing from her; Or let her grant, or else deny, My love will fit each […]

Give me one kiss, And no more: If so be, this Makes you poor To enrich you, I’ll restore For that one, two- Thousand score.

Clear are her eyes, Like purest skies; Discovering from thence A baby there That turns each sphere, Like an Intelligence.

Come, come away Or let me go; Must I here stay Because you’re slow, And will continue so; –Troth, lady, no. I scorn to be A slave to state; And since I’m free, I will not wait, Henceforth at such a rate, For needy fate. If you desire My spark should glow, The peeping fire […]

Her pretty feet Like snails did creep A little out, and then, As if they played at Bo-peep, Did soon draw in again.

You say I love not, ’cause I do not play Still with your curls, and kiss the time away. You blame me, too, because I can’t devise Some sport, to please those babies in your eyes; By Love’s religion, I must here confess it, The most I love, when I the least express it. Shall […]

–AND, cruel maid, because I see You scornful of my love, and me, I’ll trouble you no more, but go My way, where you shall never know What is become of me; there I Will find me out a path to die, Or learn some way how to forget You and your name for ever;–yet […]

My faithful friend, if you can see The fruit to grow up, or the tree; If you can see the colour come Into the blushing pear or plum; If you can see the water grow To cakes of ice, or flakes of snow; If you can see that drop of rain Lost in the wild […]

To my revenge, and to her desperate fears, Fly, thou made bubble of my sighs and tears! In the wild air, when thou hast roll’d about, And, like a blasting planet, found her out; Stoop, mount, pass by to take her eye–then glare Like to a dreadful comet in the air: Next, when thou dost […]

A sweet disorder in the dress Kindles in clothes a wantonness; A lawn about the shoulders thrown Into a fine distraction; An erring lace, which here and there Enthrals the crimson stomacher; A cuff neglectful, and thereby Ribbons to flow confusedly; A winning wave, deserving note, In the tempestuous petticoat; A careless shoe-string, in whose […]

Let us, though late, at last, my Silvia, wed; And loving lie in one devoted bed. Thy watch may stand, my minutes fly post haste; No sound calls back the year that once is past. Then, sweetest Silvia, let’s no longer stay; True love, we know, precipitates delay. Away with doubts, all scruples hence remove! […]