Whereat her tears began to turn their tide,
Being prisoned in her eye like pearls in glass;
Yet sometimes falls an orient drop beside,
Which her cheek melts, as scorning it should pass,
To wash the foul face of the sluttish ground,
Who is but drunken when she seemeth drowned.
| Stanza 1 | EVEN as the sun with purple-coloured face |
| Stanza 2 | “Thrice fairer than myself,” thus she began, |
| Stanza 3 | “Vouchsafe, thou wonder, to alight thy steed, |
| Stanza 4 | “And yet not cloy thy lips with loathed satiety, |
| Stanza 5 | With this she seizeth on his sweating palm, |
| Stanza 6 | Over one arm the lusty courser's rein, |
| Stanza 7 | The studded bridle on a ragged bough |
| Stanza 8 | So soon was she along as he was down, |
| Stanza 9 | He burns with bashful shame: she with her tears |
| Stanza 10 | Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast, |
| Stanza 11 | Forced to content, but never to obey, |
| Stanza 12 | Look, how a bird lies tangled in a net, |
| Stanza 13 | Still she entreats, and prettily entreats, |
| Stanza 14 | Look how he can, she cannot choose but love; |
| Stanza 15 | Upon this promise did he raise his chin, |
| Stanza 16 | Never did passenger in summer's heat |
| Stanza 17 | “I have been wooed, as I entreat thee now, |
| Stanza 18 | “Over my altars hath he hung his lance, |
| Stanza 19 | “Thus he that overruled I overswayed, |
| Stanza 20 | “Touch but my lips with those fair lips of thine, — |
| Stanza 21 | “Art thou ashamed to kiss? then wink again, |
| Stanza 22 | “The tender spring upon thy tempting lip |
| Stanza 23 | “Were I hard-favoured, foul, or wrinkled old, |
| Stanza 24 | “Thou canst not see one wrinkle in my brow; |
| Stanza 25 | “Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear, |
| Stanza 26 | “Witness this primrose bank whereon I lie; |
| Stanza 27 | “Is thine own heart to thine own face affected? |
| Stanza 28 | “Torches are made to light, jewels to wear, |
| Stanza 29 | “Upon the earth's increase why shouldst thou feed, |
| Stanza 30 | By this the love-sick queen began to sweat, |
| Stanza 31 | And now Adonis, with a lazy sprite, |
| Stanza 32 | “Ay me,” quoth Venus, “young, and so unkind? |
| Stanza 33 | “The sun that shines from heaven shines but warm, |
| Stanza 34 | “Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel, |
| Stanza 35 | “What am I, that thou shouldst contemn me this? |
| Stanza 36 | “Fie, lifeless picture, cold and senseless stone, |
| Stanza 37 | This said, impatience chokes her pleading tongue, |
| Stanza 38 | Sometime she shakes her head and then his hand, |
| Stanza 39 | “Fondling,” she saith, “since I have hemmed thee here |
| Stanza 40 | “Within this limit is relief enough, |
| Stanza 41 | At this Adonis smiles as in disdain, |
| Stanza 42 | These lovely caves, these round enchanting pits, |
| Stanza 43 | Now which way shall she turn? what shall she say? |
| Stanza 44 | But, lo, from forth a copse that neighbours by, |
| Stanza 45 | Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds, |
| Stanza 46 | His ears up-pricked; his braided hanging mane |
| Stanza 47 | Sometime he trots, as if he told the steps, |
| Stanza 48 | What recketh he his rider's angry stir, |
| Stanza 49 | Look, when a painter would surpass the life, |
| Stanza 50 | Round-hoofed, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long, |
| Stanza 51 | Sometime he scuds far off and there he stares; |
| Stanza 52 | He looks upon his love and neighs unto her; |
| Stanza 53 | Then, like a melancholy malcontent, |
| Stanza 54 | His testy master goeth about to take him; |
| Stanza 55 | All swoln with chafing, down Adonis sits, |
| Stanza 56 | An oven that is stopped, or river stayed, |
| Stanza 57 | He sees her coming, and begins to glow, |
| Stanza 58 | O, what a sight it was, wistly to view |
| Stanza 59 | Now was she just before him as he sat, |
| Stanza 60 | O, what a war of looks was then between them! |
| Stanza 61 | Full gently now she takes him by the hand, |
| Stanza 62 | Once more the engine of her thoughts began: |
| Stanza 63 | “Give me my hand,” saith he, “why dost thou feel it?” |
| Stanza 64 | “For shame,” he cries, “let go, and let me go; |
| Stanza 65 | Thus she replies: “Thy palfrey, as he should, |
| Stanza 66 | “How like a jade he stood, tied to the tree, |
| Stanza 67 | “Who sees his true-love in her naked bed, |
| Stanza 68 | “Let me excuse thy courser, gentle boy; |
| Stanza 69 | “I know not love,” quoth he, “nor will not know it, |
| Stanza 70 | “Who wears a garment shapeless and unfinished? |
| Stanza 71 | “You hurt my hand with wringing; let us part, |
| Stanza 72 | “What! canst thou talk?” quoth she, “hast thou a tongue? |
| Stanza 73 | “Had I no eyes but ears, my ears would love |
| Stanza 74 | “Say, that the sense of feeling were bereft me, |
| Stanza 75 | “But, O, what banquet wert thou to the taste, |
| Stanza 76 | Once more the ruby-coloured portal opened, |
| Stanza 77 | This ill presage advisedly she marketh: |
| Stanza 78 | And at his look she flatly falleth down, |
| Stanza 79 | And all amazed brake off his late intent, |
| Stanza 80 | He wrings her nose, he strikes her on the cheeks, |
| Stanza 81 | The night of sorrow now is turned to day: |
| Stanza 82 | Whose beams upon his hairless face are fixed, |
| Stanza 83 | “O, where am I?” quoth she, “in earth or heaven, |
| Stanza 84 | “O, thou didst kill me: kill me once again: |
| Stanza 85 | “Long may they kiss each other, for this cure! |
| Stanza 86 | “Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted, |
| Stanza 87 | “A thousand kisses buys my heart from me; |
| Stanza 88 | “Fair queen,” quoth he, “if any love you owe me, |
| Stanza 89 | “Look, the world's comforter, with weary gait, |
| Stanza 90 | “Now let me say ‘ Good night,’ and so say you; |
| Stanza 91 | Till, breathless, he disjoined, and backward drew |
| Stanza 92 | Now quick desire hath caught the yielding prey, |
| Stanza 93 | And having felt the sweetness of the spoil, |
| Stanza 94 | Hot, faint, and weary, with her hard embracing, |
| Stanza 95 | What wax so frozen but dissolves with tempering, |
| Stanza 96 | When he did frown, O, had she then gave over, |
| Stanza 97 | For pity now she can no more detain him; |
| Stanza 98 | “Sweet boy,” she says, “this night I'll waste in sorrow, |
| Stanza 99 | “The boar!” quoth she; whereat a sudden pale, |
| Stanza 100 | Now is she in the very lists of love, |
| Stanza 101 | Even so poor birds, deceived with painted grapes, |
| Stanza 102 | But all in vain; good queen, it will not be: |
| Stanza 103 | “Thou hadst been gone,” quoth she, “sweet boy, ere this, |
| Stanza 104 | “On his bow-back he hath a battle set |
| Stanza 105 | “His brawny sides, with hairy bristles armed, |
| Stanza 106 | “Alas, he nought esteems that face of thine, |
| Stanza 107 | “O, let him keep his loathsome cabin still; |
| Stanza 108 | “Didst thou not mark my face? was it not white? |
| Stanza 109 | “For where Love reigns, disturbing Jealousy |
| Stanza 110 | “This sour informer, this bate-breeding spy, |
| Stanza 111 | “And more than so, presenteth to mine eye |
| Stanza 112 | “What should I do, seeing thee so indeed, |
| Stanza 113 | “But if thou needs wilt hunt, be ruled by me; |
| Stanza 114 | “And when thou hast on foot the purblind hare, |
| Stanza 115 | “Sometime he runs among a flock of sheep, |
| Stanza 116 | “For there his smell with others being mingled, |
| Stanza 117 | “By this, poor Wat, far off upon a hill, |
| Stanza 118 | “Then shalt thou see the dew-bedabbled wretch |
| Stanza 119 | “Lie quietly, and hear a little more; |
| Stanza 120 | “Where did I leave?” “No matter where;” quoth he, |
| Stanza 121 | “But if thou fall, O, then imagine this, |
| Stanza 122 | “Now of this dark night I perceive the reason: |
| Stanza 123 | “And therefore hath she bribed the Destinies |
| Stanza 124 | “As burning fevers, agues pale and faint, |
| Stanza 125 | “And not the least of all these maladies |
| Stanza 126 | “Therefore, despite of fruitless chastity, |
| Stanza 127 | “What is thy body but a swallowing grave, |
| Stanza 128 | “So in thyself thyself art made away; |
| Stanza 129 | “Nay, then,” quoth Adon, “you will fall again |
| Stanza 130 | “If love have lent you twenty thousand tongues, |
| Stanza 131 | “Lest the deceiving harmony should run |
| Stanza 132 | “What have you urged that I cannot reprove? |
| Stanza 133 | “Call it not love, for Love to heaven is fled, |
| Stanza 134 | “Love comforteth like sunshine after rain, |
| Stanza 135 | “More I could tell, but more I dare not say; |
| Stanza 136 | With this, he breaketh from the sweet embrace, |
| Stanza 137 | Which after him she darts, as one on shore |
| Stanza 138 | Whereat amazed, as one that unaware |
| Stanza 139 | And now she beats her heart, whereat it groans, |
| Stanza 140 | She marking them begins a wailing note |
| Stanza 141 | Her song was tedious and outwore the night, |
| Stanza 142 | For who hath she to spend the night withal |
| Stanza 143 | Lo, here the gentle lark, weary of rest, |
| Stanza 144 | Venus salutes him with this fair good morrow: |
| Stanza 145 | This said, she hasteth to a myrtle grove, |
| Stanza 146 | And as she runs, the bushes in the way |
| Stanza 147 | By this, she hears the hounds are at a bay; |
| Stanza 148 | For now she knows it is no gentle chase, |
| Stanza 149 | This dismal cry rings sadly in her ear, |
| Stanza 150 | Thus stands she in a trembling ecstasy; |
| Stanza 151 | Whose frothy mouth, bepainted all with red, |
| Stanza 152 | A thousand spleens bear her a thousand ways; |
| Stanza 153 | Here kennelled in a brake she finds a hound, |
| Stanza 154 | When he hath ceased his ill-resounding noise, |
| Stanza 155 | Look, how the world's poor people are amazed |
| Stanza 156 | “Hard-favoured tyrant, ugly, meagre, lean, |
| Stanza 157 | “If he be dead, — O no, it cannot be, |
| Stanza 158 | “Hadst thou but bid beware, then he had spoke, |
| Stanza 159 | “Dost thou drink tears, that thou provokest such weeping? |
| Stanza 160 | Here overcome, as one full of despair, |
| Stanza 161 | O, how her eyes and tears did lend and borrow! |
| Stanza 162 | Variable passions throng her constant woe, |
| Stanza 163 | By this, far off she hears some huntsman hallow; |
| Stanza 164 | Whereat her tears began to turn their tide, |
| Stanza 165 | O hard-believing love, how strange it seems |
| Stanza 166 | Now she unweaves the web that she hath wrought; |
| Stanza 167 | “No, no,” quoth she, “sweet Death, I did but jest; |
| Stanza 168 | “'Tis not my fault: the boar provoked my tongue; |
| Stanza 169 | Thus hoping that Adonis is alive, |
| Stanza 170 | “O Jove,” quoth she, “how much a fool was I |
| Stanza 171 | “Fie, fie, fond love, thou art as full of fear |
| Stanza 172 | As falcons to the lure, away she flies; |
| Stanza 173 | Or, as the snail, whose tender horns being hit, |
| Stanza 174 | Where they resign their office and their light |
| Stanza 175 | Whereat each tributary subject quakes; |
| Stanza 176 | And, being opened, threw unwilling light |
| Stanza 177 | This solemn sympathy poor Venus noteth; |
| Stanza 178 | Upon his hurt she looks so steadfastly, |
| Stanza 179 | “My tongue cannot express my grief for one, |
| Stanza 180 | “Alas, poor world, what treasure hast thou lost! |
| Stanza 181 | “Bonnet nor veil henceforth no creature wear! |
| Stanza 182 | “And therefore would he put his bonnet on, |
| Stanza 183 | “To see his face the lion walked along |
| Stanza 184 | “When he beheld his shadow in the brook, |
| Stanza 185 | “But this foul, grim, and urchin-snouted boar, |
| Stanza 186 | “'Tis true, 'tis true; thus was Adonis slain: |
| Stanza 187 | “Had I been toothed like him, I must confess, |
| Stanza 188 | She looks upon his lips, and they are pale; |
| Stanza 189 | Two glasses, where herself herself beheld |
| Stanza 190 | “Since thou art dead, lo, here I prophesy: |
| Stanza 191 | “It shall be fickle, false and full of fraud, |
| Stanza 192 | “It shall be sparing and too full of riot, |
| Stanza 193 | “It shall suspect where is no cause of fear; |
| Stanza 194 | “It shall be cause of war and dire events, |
| Stanza 195 | By this, the boy that by her side lay killed |
| Stanza 196 | She bows her head, the new-sprung flower to smell, |
| Stanza 197 | “Poor flower,” quoth she, “this was thy father's guise — |
| Stanza 198 | “Here was thy father's bed, here in my breast; |
| Stanza 199 | Thus weary of the world, away she hies, |