Part 10 (1/2)

My sickly breath Wastes in a double flame, Whilst Love and Death To my poor life lay claim; The fever in whose heat I melt 5 By her that causeth it[61:1] not felt.

Thou who alone Canst, yet wilt grant no ease, Why slight'st thou one, To feed a new disease? 10 Unequal Fair! the heart is thine: Ah, why then should the pain be mine?

TIME RECOVER'D.

[Casone.]

Come, my Dear, whilst youth conspires With the warmth of our desires!

Envious Time about thee watches, And some grace each minute s.n.a.t.c.hes: Now a spirit, now a ray 5 From thy eye he steals away; Now he blasts some blooming rose Which upon thy fresh cheek grows; Gold now plunders in a hair; Now the rubies doth impair 10 Of thy lips; and with sure haste All thy wealth will take at last; Only that of which thou mak'st Use in time, from Time thou tak'st.

SONG.

[De Voiture.]

I languish in a silent flame: For she to whom my vows incline Doth own perfections so divine, That but to speak were to disclose her name.

If I should say that she the store 5 Of Nature's graces doth comprise, (The love and wonder of all eyes,) Who will not guess the Beauty I adore?

Or though I warily conceal The charms her looks and soul possess, 10 Should I her cruelty express, And say she smiles at all the pains we feel, Among such suppliants as implore Pity, distributing her hate, Inexorable as their fate,-- 15 Who will not guess the Beauty I adore?

APOLLO AND DAPHNE.

[Marino.]

When Phoebus saw a rugged bark beguile His love, and his embraces intercept, The leaves, instructed by his grief to smile, Taking fresh growth and verdure as he wept, 'How can,' saith he, 'my woes expect release, 5 When these,[62:1] the subject of my tears, increase?'

His chang'd yet scorn-retaining Fair he kiss'd, From the lov'd trunk plucking a little bough, And though the conquest which he sought he miss'd, With that triumphant spoil adorns his brow. 10 Thus this disdainful maid his aim deceives: Where he expected fruit he gathers leaves.

SONG: TORMENT OF ABSENCE AND DELAY.

[Montalvan.]

Torment of absence and delay That thus afflicts my memory!

Why dost thou kill me every day, Yet will not give me leave to die?

Why dost thou suffer me to live 5 All hope of life in life denying, Or to my patience tortures give Never to die, yet ever dying?

To fair Narcissa's brighter eyes I was by Love's instruction guided, 10 (A happiness I long did prize,) But now am from their light divided.

Favours and gifts my suit obtain'd, But envious Fate would now destroy them, Which if to lose I only gain'd, 15 What greater pain than to enjoy them?

A LADY WEEPING.

[Montalvan.]

As when some brook flies from itself away, The murmuring crystal loosely runs astray, And, as about the verdant plain it winds, The meadows with a silver ribbon binds, Printing a kiss on every flower she meets, 5 Losing herself to fill them with new sweets, To scatter frost upon the lily's head.

And scarlet on the gilliflower to spread,-- So melting sorrow, in the fair disguise Of humid stars,[63:1] flow'd from bright Chloris' eyes, 10 Which, watering every flower her cheek discloses, Melts into jasmines here, there into roses.

TO HIS MISTRESS IN ABSENCE.