Full gently now she takes him by the hand,
A lily prisoned in a gaol of snow,
Or ivory in an alabaster band;
So white a friend engirts so white a foe:
This beauteous combat, wilful and unwilling,
Showed like two silver doves that sit a-billing.
Contents
| 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, |