Michael Drayton

"An evil spirit, your beauty, haunts me still,     Wherewith, alas, I have been long possessed!     Which ceaseth not to tempt me to each ill,"

"I euer loue where neuer hope appeares,     Yet hope drawes on my neuer-hoping care,     And my liues hope would die but for dyspaire;     My ne"

"As Loue and I, late harbour'd in one Inne,     With Prouerbs thus each other intertaine;     In loue there is no lacke, thus I beginne?     Fai"

"The glorious sunne went blushing to his bed,     When my soules sunne, from her fayre Cabynet,     Her golden beames had now discouered,     Li"

"Whilst thus mine eyes doe surfet with delight,     My wofull hart, imprisond in my breast,     Wishing to be trans-formd into my sight,     To"

"My Loue makes hote the fire whose heat is spent,     The water moisture from my teares deriueth,     And my strong sighes the ayres weake force"

"'Mongst all the creatures in this spacious round         Of the birds' kind, the phoenix is alone,         Which best by you of living things is"

"My faire, had I not erst adorned my Lute     With those sweet strings stolne from thy golden hayre,     Vnto the world had all my ioyes been mut"

"Define my weal, and tell the joys of heaven;     Express my woes and show the pains of hell;     Declare what fate unlucky stars have given,"

"Die, die, my soule, and neuer taste of ioy,     If sighes, nor teares, nor vowes, nor prayers can moue;     If fayth and zeale be but esteemd a"

"Dear, why should you command me to my rest,     When now the night doth summon all to sleep?     Methinks this time becometh lovers best;     N"

"Muses which sadly sit about my chayre,     Drownd in the teares extorted by my lines,     With heauy sighs whilst thus I breake the ayre,     P"

"Eyes with your teares, blind if you bee,     Why haue these teares such eyes to see,     Poore eyes, if yours teares cannot moue,     My teares"

"Those Priests, which first the Vestall fire begun,     Which might be borrowed from no earthly flame,     Deuisd a vessell to receiue the sunne,"

"Three sorts of serpents doe resemble thee;     That daungerous eye-killing Cockatrice,     Th' inchaunting Syren, which doth so entice,     The"

"Beauty sometime, in all her glory crowned,     Passing by that cleere fountain of thine eye,     Her sun-shine face there chaunsing to espy,"

"How many paltry, foolish, painted things,     That now in coaches trouble every street,     Shall be forgotten, whom no poet sings,     Ere the"

"A Canzonet     I pray thee leaue, loue me no more,         Call home the Heart you gaue me,     I but in vaine that Saint adore,         That can"

"Maydens, why spare ye?     Or whether not dare ye         Correct the blind Shooter?     Because wanton VENVS,     So oft that doth paine vs,"

"Great Lady, essence of my chiefest good,     Of the most pure and finest tempred spirit,     Adorn'd with gifts, enobled by thy blood,     Whic"

"Vovchsafe to grace these rude vnpolish'd rymes,     Which long (dear friend) haue slept in sable night,     And, come abroad now in these glorio"

"You're not alone when you are still alone;     O God! from you that I could private be!     Since you one were, I never since was one;     Sinc"

"Like an aduenturous Sea-farer am I,     Who hath some long and dang'rous Voyage beene,     And call'd to tell of his Discouerie,     How farre"

"As Love and I late harboured in one inn,     With Proverbs thus each other entertain.     "In love there is no lack," thus I begin:     "Fair w"

"Nothing but "No!" and "I!"[A] and "I!" and "No!"     "How falls it out so strangely?" you reply.     I tell ye, Fair, I'll not be answered so,"

"Those teares, which quench my hope, still kindle my desire,     Those sighes, which coole my hart, are coles vnto my loue,     Disdayne, Ice to"

"The Gods delight, the heauens hie spectacle,     Earths greatest glory, worlds rarest miracle.     Fortunes fay'rst mistresse, vertues surest g"

"Bright star of beauty, on whose eyelids sit     A thousand nymph-like and enamoured graces,     The goddesses of memory and wit,     Which ther"

"Must I needes write, who's hee that can refuse,     He wants a minde, for her that hath no Muse,     The thought of her doth heau'nly rage i"

"An euill spirit your beauty haunts me still,     Where-with (alas) I haue been long possest,     Which ceaseth not to tempt me vnto ill,     No"

"Vnto the World, to Learning, and to Heauen,     Three nines there are, to euerie one a nine;     One number of the earth, the other both diuine,"

"Clear Ankor, on whose silver-sanded shore,     My soul-shrined saint, my fair Idea lives;     O blessd brook, whose milk-white swans adore"

"Whilst yet mine eyes do surfeit with delight,     My woful heart imprisoned in my breast,     Wisheth to be transformd to my sight,     That i"

"My thoughts bred vp with Eagle-birds of loue,     And, for their vertues I desiered to know,     Vpon the nest I set them forth, to proue     I"

"My hart, imprisoned in a hopeless Ile,     Peopled with Armies of pale iealous eyes,     The shores beset with thousand secret spyes,     Must"

"Faire stood the Wind for France,     When we our Sayles aduance,     Nor now to proue our chance,             Longer will tarry;     But putti"

"Since there 's no helpe, Come let vs kisse and part,     Nay, I haue done: You get no more of Me,     And I am glad, yea glad withall my heart,"

"Bright starre of Beauty, on whose eyelids sit,     A thousand Nimph-like and enamoured Graces,     The Goddesses of memory and wit,     Which i"

"Could there be words found to expresse my losse,     There were some hope, that this my heauy crosse     Might be sustained, and that wretch"

"Thou purblind Boy, since thou hast been so slacke     To wound her Heart, whose Eyes haue wounded me,     And suff'red her to glory in my Wracke"

"In new attire (and put most neatly on)     Thou Murray mak'st thy passionate Queene apeare,     As when she sat on the Numidian throne,     Dec"

"In one whole world is but one Phoenix found,     A Phoenix thou, this Phoenix then alone:     By thy rare plume thy kind is easly knowne,     W"

"My fayre, if thou wilt register my loue,     More then worlds volumes shall thereof arise;     Preserue my teares, and thou thy selfe shall prou"

"My dearely loued friend how oft haue we,     In winter evenings (meaning to be free,)     To some well-chosen place vs'd to retire;     And"

"My heart was slain, and none but you and I;     Who should I think the murder should commit?     Since but yourself there was no creature by"

"O, why should nature niggardly restrain     That foreign nations relish not our tongue?     Else should my lines glide on the waves of Rhine,"