'T IS so; but now the lord of all delight,
So many years, so many days and hours,
The world to me was all a world of flowers
Of laughter and of love; of warmth and light: —
And in one moment all is turned to night,
Darkness and cold: — my broken spirit cowers
Beneath your will, inexorable powers, —
The blind decrees of your remorseless might.

Stern answer made the voices of the earth:
" We gave and asked no thanks: the gifts we gave
Of beauty and of splendour, love and mirth,
Were ours to give, are ours to take away:

You stole my love; fie upon ye, fie,
You stole my love, fie, fie a.
Guessed you but what a pain it is to prove,
You for your love would die a;
And henceforth never longer
Be such a crafty wronger:
But when deceit takes such a fall,
Then farewell sly devise and all.
You stole my love; fie upon ye, fie.
You stole my love, fie, fie a.

You that seek to sunder love,
Learn a lesson ere you go;
And as others pains do prove,
So abide yourselves like woe.
For I find, and you shall feel
Self same turn of Fortune's wheel:
Then if wrong be repaid,
Say deserved mends is made.

Love quickly would the World unite,
In ev'ry Breast erect its Throne,
Mankind to solid Joys invite,
Joys to poor Mortals now unknown.
Friendship would then no Traffick prove;
But, by much nobler Precepts taught,
All like th' Angelick Forms above,
Would be one Soul, one Mind, one Thought:
To them 'twould then uneasie grow,
To them a Self-denial be,
The smallest Disrespect to show,

LOVER .

Come , Bacchus, come! so may the mystic vine
And verdant ivy round thy temples twine!
My pains, the anguish I endure, remove:
Oft hast thou vanquish'd the fierce pangs of love.
Haste, boy; with old Falernian crown the bowl;
In the gay cordial let me drench my soul.
Hence, gloomy care! I give you to the wind:
The god of fancy frolics in my mind.
My dear companions! favour my design;
Let's drown our senses all in rosy wine!

COMPANION .

I WANDERED out awhile agone,
And went I knew not whither;
But there do beauties, many a one,
Resort, and meet together;
And Cupid's power will there be shown,
If ever you come thither.

For, like two suns, two beauties bright,
I shining saw together;
And, tempted by their double light,
My eyes I fixed on either:
Till both at once so thralled my sight,
I loved and knew not whether.

Such equal sweetness Venus gave,
That I preferred not either;
And when for love I thought to crave,
I knew not well of whether.

Fair , since thy virtues my affections move,
And I have vowed my purpose is to join
In an eternal band of chastest love
Our souls, to make a marriage most divine,
Why (thou may'st think) then seemeth he to prize
An outward beauty's fading hue so much?
Why doth he read such lectures in mine eyes,
And often strive my tender palm to touch?
Oh, pardon my presuming; for I swear,
My love is soiled with no lustful spot;
Thy soul's perfections through those veils appear;
And I half faint, that I embrace them not.

What is the cause, when elsewhere I resort,
I have my gestures and discourse more free?
And, if I please, can any beauty court,
Yet stand so duil and so demure by thee?
Why are my speeches broken whilst I talk?
Why do I fear almost thy hand to touch?
Why dare I not embrace thee as we walk,
Since with the greatest nymphs I've dared as much?
Ah! know that none of those I e'er affected;
And therefore, used a careless courtship there;
Because I neither their disdain respected,
Nor reckoned them nor their embraces dear.

Tell me, my heart, what thought these pantings move?
My thoughts of love.
What flames are these that set thee so on fire?
Flames of desire.
What means hast thou, contentment's flower to crop?
No means but hope.
Yet let us feed on hope, and hope the best;
For they amid their griefs are something blest,
Whose thoughts, and flames, and means have such free scope,
They may at once both love, desire, and hope.

But say, what fruit will love at last obtain?
Fruitless disdain.
What will these hopes prove, which yet seem so fair?

Since Ignorance and Envie now are banish'd;
Since discord from among the flowers is vanish'd;
Since Rhodon is espous'd to Iris bright ;
Since warre hath happy Thessaly left quite ,
Let every one that loves his Countries peace,
His height of gladnesse with his hands expresse.