CCVII

TO CENONE

WHAT Conscience, say, is it in thee
When I a heart had one,

To take away that heart from me,
And to retain thy own?

For shame or pity now incline
To play a loving part;
Either to send me kindly thine,
Or give me back my heart.

Covet not both; but if thou dost
Resolve to part with neither,
Why, yet to show that thou art just,
Take me and mine together.

Herrick.

CCVIII

THE BARGAIN

My true love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one for another given :
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,
There never was a better bargain driven :

My true love hath my heart, and I have his.

THE MESSAGE

His heart in me keeps him and me in one,

185

My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides: He loves my heart, for once it was his own,

I cherish his because in me it bides:

My true love hath my heart, and I have his.

Sir P. Sidney.

CCIX

THE MESSAGE

SEND home my long-stray'd eyes to me,
Which, oh! too long have dwelt on thee;
But if they there have learnt such ill,
Such forced fashions

And false passions,

That they be

Made by thee

Fit for no good sight, keep them still.

Send home my harmless heart again,
Which no unworthy thought could stain;
But if it be taught by thine

To make jestings

Of protestings,

And break both

Word and oath,

Keep it still, 'tis none of mine.

Yet send me back my heart and eyes,

That I may know and see thy lies,

And may laugh and joy when thou
Art in anguish,

And dost languish

For some one

That will none,

Or prove as false as thou dost now.

J. Donne.

CCX

THE EXCUSE

CALLING to mind, my eyes went long about
To cause my heart for to forsake my breast;
All in a rage I sought to pull them out

As who had been such traitors to my rest:

What could they say to win again my grace?—
Forsooth, that they had seen my Mistress' face.

Another time, my heart I call'd to mind,

Thinking that he this woe on me had brought, For he my breast the fort of love, resign'd,1 When of such wars my fancy never thought:

What could he say when I would have him slain? That he was hers, and had forgone my chain. At last, when I perceived both eyes and heart Excuse themselves as guiltless of my ill, I found myself the cause of all my smart, And told myself that I myself would kill : Yet when I saw myself to you was true, I loved myself, because myself loved you. Sir W. Raleigh.

1 v.l. 'Because that he to love his force resign'd.'

AS YE CAME FROM THE HOLY LAND 187

CCXI

AS YE CAME FROM THE HOLY LAND

As ye came from the holy land

Of Walsinghame,

Met you not with my true love
By the way as you came?

How should I know your true love,
That have met many one,

As I came from the holy land,

That have come, that have gone?

She is neither white nor brown,
But as the heavens fair;

There is none hath her form divine
In the earth or the air.

Such a one did I meet, good sir,

Such an angelic face,

Who like a nymph, like a queen, did appear

In her gait, in her grace.

She hath left me here alone

All alone, as unknown,

Who sometime did me lead with herself,

And me loved as her own.

What's the cause that she leaves you alone

And a new way doth take,

That sometime did love you as her own,
And her joy did you make?

I have loved her all my youth,
But now am old, as you see:
Love likes not the falling fruit,
Nor the wither'd tree.

Know that Love is a careless child,
And forgets promise past:
He is blind, he is deaf when he list,
And in faith never fast.

His desire is a dureless content,
And a trustless joy;

He is won with a world of despair,
And is lost with a toy.

Of womenkind such indeed is the love,

Or the word love abused,

Under which many

childish desires

And conceits are excused.

But true love is a durable fire,

In the mind ever burning,

Never sick, never old, never dead,

From itself never turning.

Sir W. Raleigh (?).