• In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes,
    For they in thee a thousand errors note;
    But ’tis my heart that loves what they despise,
    Who, in despite of view, is pleased to dote.
    Nor are mine ears with thy tongue’s tune delighted;
    Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone,
    Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited
    To any sensual feast with thee alone:
    ...

  • Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep:
    A maid of Dian’s this advantage found,
    And his love-kindling fire did quickly steep
    In a cold valley-fountain of that ground;
    Which borrow’d from this holy fire of Love,
    A dateless lively heat, still to endure,
    And grew a seeting bath, which yet men prove
    Against strange maladies a sovereign cure.
    But at my...

  • Drink to me, only, with thine eyes,
    And I will pledge with mine;
    Or leave a kisse but in the cup,
    And Ile not look for wine.
    The thirst, that from the soule doth rise,
    Doth aske a drink divine:
    But might I of Jove's Nectar sup,
    I would not change for thine.
    I sent thee, late, a rosie wreath,
    Not so much honoring thee,
    As giving it a hope, that...

  • Still to be neat, still to be drest,
    As you were going to a feast;
    Still to be powder'd, still perfum'd:
    Lady, it is to be presum'd,
    Though art's hid causes are not found,
    All is not sweet, all is not sound.

    Give me a look, give me a face,
    That make simplicity a grace;
    Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:
    Such sweet neglect more taketh me
    ...

  • Consider this small dust, here in the glass,
    By atoms moved:
    Could you believe that this the body was
    Of one that loved;
    And in his mistress' flame playing like a fly,
    Was turned to cinders by her eye:
    Yes ; and in death, as life unblest,
    To have't exprest,
    Even ashes of lovers find no rest.

  • I've oft been told by learned friars,
    That wishing and the crime are one,
    And Heaven punishes desires
    As much as if the deed were done.

    If wishing damns us, you and I
    Are damned to all our heart's content;
    Come, then, at least we may enjoy
    Some pleasure for our punishment!

  • 'Twas a new feeling - something more
    Than we had dared to own before,
    Which then we hid not;
    We saw it in each other's eye,
    And wished, in every half-breathed sigh,
    To speak, but did not.

    She felt my lips' impassioned touch -
    'Twas the first time I dared so much,
    And yet she chid not;
    But whispered o'er my burning brow,
    'Oh, do you doubt I...

  • Thou art a fool," said my head to my heart,
    "Indeed, the greatest of fools thou art,
    To be led astray by trick of a tress,
    By a smiling face or a ribbon smart;"
    And my heart was in sore distress.

    Then Phyllis came by, and her face was fair,
    The light gleamed soft on her raven hair;
    And her lips were blooming a rosy red.
    Then my heart spoke out...

  • If

    If life were but a dream, my Love,
    And death the waking time;
    If day had not a beam, my Love,
    And night had not a rhyme, --
    A barren, barren world were this
    Without one saving gleam;
    I'd only ask that with a kiss
    You'd wake me from the dream.

    If dreaming were the sum of days,
    And loving were the bane;
    If battling for a wreath of bays
    ...

  • A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in,
    A minute to smile and an hour to weep in,
    A pint of joy to a peck of trouble,
    And never a laugh but the moans come double;
    And that is life!

    A crust and a corner that love makes precious,
    With a smile to warm and the tears to refresh us;
    And joy seems sweeter when cares come after,
    And a moan is the finest of...