Figuring that they their passions likewise lent me

Of grief and blushes, aptly understood


In bloodless white and the encrimsoned mood-

Effects of terror and dear modesty,


Encamped in hearts, but fighting outwardly.

'"And, lo, behold these talents of their hair,


With twisted metal amorously empleached,

I have receiv'd from many a several fair,


Their kind acceptanceweepingly beseeched,

With the annexions of fair gems enriched,


And deep-brained sonnets that did amplify

Each stone's dear nature, worth, and quality.


'"The diamond? why, 'twas beautiful and hard,

Whereto his invised properties did tend;


The deep-green em'rald, in whose fresh regard

Weak sights their sicklyradiance do amend;


The heaven-hued sapphire and the opal blend

With objects manifold; each several stone,


With wit well blazoned, smiled, or made some moan.

'"Lo, all these trophies of affections hot,


Of pensived and subdued desires the tender,

Nature hath charged me that I hoard them not,


But yield them up where I myself must render-

That is, to you, my origin and ender;


For these, of force, must your oblations be,

Since I their altar, you enpatron me.


'"O then advance of yours that phraseless hand

Whose white weighs down the airy scale of praise;


Take all these similes to your own command,

Hallowed with sighs that burning lungs did raise;


What me your minister for you obeys

Works under you; and to your audit comes


Their distract parcels in combined sums.

'"Lo, this device was sent me from a nun,


Or sister sanctified, of holiest note,

Which late her noble suit in court did shun,


Whose rarest havings made the blossoms dote;

For she was sought by spirits of richest coat,


But kept cold distance, and did thence remove

To spend her living in eternal love.


'"But, O my sweet, what labour is't to leave

The thing we have not, mast'ring what not strives,


Playing the place which did no form receive,

Playing patient sports in unconstrained gyves!


She that her fame so to herself contrives,

The scars of battle scapeth by the flight,


And makes her absencevaliant, not her might.

'"O pardon me in that my boast is true!


The accident which brought me to her eye

Upon the moment did her force subdue,


And now she would the caged cloister fly.

Religious love put out religion's eye.


Not to be tempted, would she be immured,

And now to tempt all liberty procured.


'"How mighty then you are, O hear me tell!

The broken bosoms that to me belong


Have emptied all their fountains in my well,

And mine I pour your ocean all among.


I strong o'er them, and you o'er me being strong,

Must for your victory us all congest,


As compound love to physic your cold breast.

'"My parts had pow'r to charm a sacred nun,


Who, disciplined, ay, dieted in grace,

Believed her eyes when they t'assail begun,


All vows and consecrations giving place,

O most potential love, vow, bond, nor space,


In thee hath neither sting, knot, nor confine,

For thou art all, and all things else are thine.


'"When thou impressest, what are precepts worth

Of stale example? When thou wilt inflame,


How coldly those impediments stand forth,

Of wealth, of filial fear, law, kindred, fame!


Love's arms are peace, 'gainst rule, 'gainst sense, 'gainst shame.

And sweetens, in the suff'ring pangs it bears,


The aloes of all forces, shocks and fears.

'"Now all these hearts that do on mine depend,


Feeling it break, with bleeding groans they pine,

And supplicant their sighs to your extend,


To leave the batt'ry that you make 'gainst mine,

Lending soft audience to my sweet design,


And credent soul to that strong-bonded oath,

That shall prefer and undertake my troth."


'This said, his wat'ry eyes he did dismount,

Whose sights till then were levelled on my face;


Each cheek a river running from a fount

With brinish current downward flowed apace.


O, how the channel to the stream gave grace!

Who glazed with crystal gate the glowing roses


That flame through water which their hue encloses.

'O father, what a hell of witchcraft lies


In the small orb of one particular tear!

But with the inundation of the eyes


What rocky heart to water will not wear?

What breast so cold that is not warmed here?


O cleft effect! cold modesty, hot wrath,

Both fire from hence and chill extincture hath.


'For lo, his passion, but an art of craft,

Even there resolved my reason into tears;


There my white stole of chastity I daffed,

Shook off my sober guards and civil fears;


Appear to him as he to me appears,

All melting; though our drops this diff'rence bore:


His poisoned me, and mine did him restore.

'In him a plenitude of subtle matter,


Applied to cautels, all strange forms receives,

Of burning blushes or of weeping water,


Or swooning paleness; and he takes and leaves,

In either's aptness, as it best deceives,


To blush at speeches rank, to weep at woes,

Or to turn white and swoon at tragic shows;


'That not a heart which in his level came

Could scape the hail of his all-hurting aim,


Showing fair nature is both kind and tame;

And, veiled in them, did win whom he would maim.


Against the thing he sought he would exclaim;

When he most burned in heart-wished luxury,


He preached pure maid and praised cold chastity.

'Thus merely with the garment of a Grace


The naked and concealed fiend he covered,

That th' unexperient gave the tempter place,


Which, like a cherubin, above them hovered.

Who, young and simple, would not be so lovered?


Ay me, I fell, and yet do question make

What I should do again for such a sake.


'O, that infected moisture of his eye,

O, that false fire which in his cheek so glowed,


O, that forced thunder from his heart did fly,

O, that sad breath his spongy lungs bestowed,


O, all that borrowed motion, seeming owed,

Would yet again betray the fore-betrayed,


And new pervert a reconciled maid.'

-THE END-


.

• likewise [´laikwaiz] ad.同样地；也，又 (初中英语单词)
• terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
• origin [´ɔridʒin] n.起源；由来；出身 (初中英语单词)
• minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
• device [di´vais] n.装置；器具；策略 (初中英语单词)
• thence [ðens] ad.从那里；因此 (初中英语单词)
• eternal [i´tə:nəl] a.永远的；永恒的 (初中英语单词)
• absence [´æbsəns] n.不在，缺席；缺乏 (初中英语单词)
• pardon [´pɑ:dən] n.&vt.原谅；饶恕；赦免 (初中英语单词)
• victory [´viktəri] n.胜利，战胜 (初中英语单词)
• compound [kəm´paund] n.&a.混合(的) v.合成 (初中英语单词)
• sacred [´seikrid] a.神圣的；庄严的 (初中英语单词)
• coldly [´kəuldli] ad.冷淡地 (初中英语单词)
• wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)
• audience [´ɔ:diəns] n.听众；观众；接见 (初中英语单词)
• undertake [,ʌndə´teik] vt.从事；承担；担保 (初中英语单词)
• running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
• channel [´tʃænəl] n.海峡；航道；途径 (初中英语单词)
• stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
• crystal [´kristəl] n.水晶 a.水晶的 (初中英语单词)
• passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中英语单词)
• garment [´gɑ:mənt] n.衣服，外衣 (初中英语单词)
• moisture [´mɔistʃə] n.潮湿；温度；水份 (初中英语单词)
• thunder [´θʌndə] n.雷 vi.打雷 vt.吼出 (初中英语单词)
• breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
• betray [bi´trei] vt.背叛；辜负；暴露 (初中英语单词)
• acceptance [ək´septəns] n.接受；承认 (高中英语单词)
• distract [di´strækt] vt.使分心 (高中英语单词)
• mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
• potential [pə´tenʃəl] n.&a.潜在的；可能的 (高中英语单词)
• kindred [´kindrid] n.亲属关系；同源关系 (高中英语单词)
• downward [´daunwəd] a.下降的，向下的 (高中英语单词)
• tragic [´trædʒik] a.悲剧的；悲惨的 (高中英语单词)
• motion [´məuʃən] n.手势 vt.打手势 (高中英语单词)
• sickly [´sikli] a.多病的；病态的 (英语四级单词)
• radiance [´reidjəns] n.发光；光彩；辐射 (英语四级单词)
• sapphire [´sæfaiə] n.蓝宝石 a.深蓝色的 (英语四级单词)
• manifold [´mænifəuld] a.多样的；多种特征的 (英语四级单词)
• valiant [´væliənt] a.勇敢的，英勇的 (英语四级单词)
• cloister [´klɔistə] n.修道院；隐居处 (英语四级单词)
• modesty [´mɔdisti] n.谨慎；端庄；羞怯 (英语四级单词)
• resolved [ri´zɔlvd] a.决心的；坚定的 (英语四级单词)
• seeming [´si:miŋ] a.表面上的 n.外观 (英语四级单词)
• filial [´filiəl] a.子女的；孝顺的 (英语六级单词)
• witchcraft [´witʃkrɑ:ft] n.巫术 (英语六级单词)
• weeping [´wi:piŋ] a.&n.哭泣(的) (英语六级单词)