Michael Drayton

"Some, when in ryme they of their Loues doe tell,     With flames and lightning their exordiums paynt:     Some inuocate the Gods, some spirits o"

"Friend, if you thinke my Papers may supplie     You, with some strange omitted Noueltie,     Which others Letters yet haue left vntould,"

"Truce gentle loue, a parly now I craue,     Me thinks, 'tis long since first these wars begun,     Nor thou nor I, the better yet can haue:"

"My fayre, looke from those turrets of thine eyes,     Into the Ocean of a troubled minde,     Where my poor soule, the Barke of sorrow, lyes,"

"Whilst thus my pen striues to eternize thee,     Age rules my lines with wrincles in my face,     Where in the Map of all my misery,     Is mod"

"Why doe I speake of ioy, or write of loue,     When my hart is the very Den of horror,     And in my soule the paynes of hell I proue,     With"

"That learned Father which so firmly proves         The soul of man immortal and divine,         And doth the several offices define"

"You cannot love, my pretty heart, and why?     There was a time you told me that you would,     But how again you will the same deny.     If it"

"O eyes! behold your happy Hesperus,     That luckie Load-starre of eternall light,     Left as that sunne alone to comfort vs,     When our wor"

"Driue forth thy Flocke, young Pastor, to that Plaine,     Where our old Shepheards wont their flocks to feed;     To those cleare walkes, where"

"Thou purblind boy, since thou hast been so slack     To wound her heart whose eyes have wounded me     And suffered her to glory in my wrack,"

"Phbe looke downe, and here behold in mee,     The elements within thy sphere inclosed,     How kindly Nature plac'd them vnder thee,     And i"

"If hee from heauen that filch'd that liuing fire,     Condemn'd by Ioue to endlesse torment be,     I greatly meruaile how you still goe free,"

"Accursed Death, what neede was there at all     Of thee, or who to councell thee did call;     The subiect whereupon these lines I spend"

"This while we are abroad,         Shall we not touch our Lyre?     Shall we not sing an ODE?         Shall that holy Fire,     In vs that stro"

"Into these loues who but for passion lookes,     At this first sight, here let him lay them by,     And seeke elsewhere in turning other bookes,"

"That ten-yeares-trauell'd Greeke return'd from Sea     Ne'r ioyd so much to see his Ithaca,     As I should you, who are alone to me,     More"

"If those ten Regions, registred by Fame,     By theyr ten Sibils haue the world controld,     Who prophecied of Christ or ere he came,     And"

"A witlesse Gallant, a young Wench that woo'd,     (Yet his dull Spirit her not one iot could moue)     Intreated me, as e'r I wish'd his good,"

"There's nothing grieues me, but that Age should haste,     That in my dayes I may not see thee old,     That where those two deare sparkling Eye"

"Why should your fair eyes with such sov'reign grace     Disperse their rays on every vulgar spirit,     Whilst I in darkness in the self-same pl"

"When conquering loue did first my hart assaile,     Vnto mine ayde I summond euery sence,     Doubting if that proude tyrant should preuaile,"

"Methinks I see some crooked mimic jeer,     And tax my Muse with this fantastic grace;     Turning my papers asks, "What have we here?"     Mak"

"As in some Countries far remote from hence,     The wretched creature destined to die,     Hauing the iudgement due to his offence,     By Surg"

"Good Folke, for Gold or Hyre,         But helpe me to a Cryer;     For my poore Heart is runne astray     After two Eyes, that pass'd this"

"Thou which do'st guide this little world of loue,     Thy planets mansions heere thou mayst behold,     My brow the spheare where Saturne still"

"My heart the anvil where my thoughts do beat,     My words the hammers fashioning my desire,     My breast the forge including all the heat,"

"I hear some say, "This man is not in love!"     "Who! can he love? a likely thing!" they say.     "Read but his verse, and it will easily prove!"

"You not alone, when you are still alone,     O God from you that I could priuate be,     Since you one were, I neuer since was one,     Since y"

"The Ryme nor marres, nor makes,     Nor addeth it, nor takes,         From that which we propose;     Things imaginarie     Doe so strangely v"

"Such men as hold intelligence with Letters,     And in that nice and Narrow way of Verse,     As oft they lend, so oft they must be Debters,"

"Define my loue, and tell the ioyes of heauen,     Expresse my woes, and shew the paynes of hell;     Declare what fate vnlucky starres haue giue"

"To nothing fitter can I thee compare     Than to the son of some rich penny-father,     Who having now brought on his end with care,     Leaves"

"What dost thou mean to cheat me of my heart,     To take all mine and give me none again?     Or have thine eyes such magic or that art     Tha"

"Letters and lynes, we see, are soone defaced,     Mettles doe waste and fret with cankers rust;     The Diamond shall once consume to dust,"

"Some men there be which like my method well,         And much commend the strangeness of my vein;         Some say I have a passing pleasing str"

"Plain-pathed experience, the unlearnd's guide,     Her simple followers evidently shows     Sometimes what schoolmen scarcely can decide,"

"A witless gallant a young wench that wooed--     Yet his dull spirit her not one jot could move--     Intreated me as e'er I wished his good,"

"Like an adventurous sea-farer am I,     Who hath some long and dang'rous voyage been,     And called to tell of his discovery,     How far he s"

"I gaue my faith to Loue, Loue his to mee,     That hee and I, sworne brothers should remaine,     Thus fayth receiu'd, fayth giuen back againe,"

"What time the groues were clad in greene,         The Fields drest all in flowers,     And that the sleeke-hayred Nimphs were seene,         To"

"Like as a man, on some aduenture bound     His honest friendes, their kindnes to expresse,     T'incourage him of whome the maine is own'd;"

"Me thinks I see some crooked Mimick ieere     And taxe my Muse with this fantastick grace,     Turning my papers, asks what haue we heere?"

"Some, when in rhyme they of their loves do tell,     With flames and lightnings their exordiums paint.     Some call on heaven, some invocate on"

"Love banish'd heauen, in earth was held in scorne,     Wandring abroad in neede and beggery,     And wanting friends though of a Goddesse borne,"

"Loue in an humor played the prodigall,     And bids my sences to a solemne feast,     Yet more to grace the company withall,     Inuites my hea"

"Cleere Ankor, on whose siluer-sanded shore     My soule-shrinde Saint, my faire Idea, lyes;     O blessed Brooke! whose milk-white Swans adore"

"I many a time haue greatly marueil'd, why     Men say, their friends depart when as they die,     How well that word, a dying, doth expresse,"

"Sweete secrecie, what tongue can tell thy worth?     What mortall pen sufficiently can prayse thee?     What curious Pensill serues to lim thee"

"O why should nature nigardly restraine,     The Sotherne Nations relish not our tongue,     Else should my lines glide on the waues of Rhene,"

"When first I ended, then I first began;     Then more I travelled further from my rest.     Where most I lost, there most of all I won;     Pin"

"Is not love here as 'tis in other climes,     And differeth it as do the several nations?     Or hath it lost the virtue with the times,     Or"

"Wer't granted me to choose,     How I would end my dayes;         Since I this life must loose,     It should be in Your praise;     For t"

"Deare, why should you commaund me to my rest     When now the night doth summon all to sleepe?     Me thinks this time becommeth louers best,"

"Our floods-Queene, Thames, for shyps and Swans is crowned,     And stately Seuerne for her shores is praised,     The christall Trent for Foords"

"That learned Father which so firmly proues     The soule of man immortall and diuine,     And doth the seuerall offices define,     Anima. Giue"

"Thine eyes taught mee the Alphabet of loue,     To con my Cros-rowe ere I learn'd to spell;     For I was apt, a scholler like to proue,     Ga"

"Plac'd in the forlorne hope of all dispayre     Against the Forte where Beauties Army lies,     Assayld with death, yet armed with gastly feare,"

"Yet read at last the story of my woe,     The dreary abstracts of my endless cares,     With my life's sorrow interlind so,     Smoked with my"

"Canst thou depart and be forgotten so,     STANHOPE thou canst not, no deare STANHOPE, no:     But in despight of death the world shall see,"