And whêr 14 he run, or fly, they knew not whether; For thro' his mane and tail the high wind sings, Fanning the hairs, who wave like feather'd wings. He looks upon his love, and neighs unto her; Then, like a melancholy male-content, He vails 15 his tail, that, like a falling plume, His testy master goeth about to take him; As they were mad, unto the wood they hie them, All swoln with chafing, down Adonis sits, 14 wher] i. e. whether. 15 vails] i. e. lowers. That love-sick Love by pleading may be blest; For lovers say, the heart hath treble wrong, When it is barr'd the aidance of the tongue. An oven that is stopp'd, or river stay'd, But when the heart's attorney 16 once is mute, The client breaks, as desperate in his suit. He sees her coming, and begins to glow, O what a sight it was, wistly to view But now, her cheek was pale, and by and by Now was she just before him as he sat, His tenderer cheek receives her soft hand's print, As apt as new fallen snow takes any dint. O what a war of looks was then between them! And all this dumb play had his1 acts made plain Full gently now she takes him by the hand, Or ivory in an alabaster band; So white a friend engirts so white a foe: This beauteous combat, wilful and unwilling, Show'd like two silver doves that sit a billing. Once more the engine of her thoughts began: "My heart all whole as thine, thy heart my wound;18 "For one sweet look thy help I would assure thee, Though nothing but my body's bane would cure thee." "Give me my hand," saith he, "why dost thou feel it?" [have it; "Give me my heart," saith she, "and thou shalt 17 his] i. e. its. 18 thy heart my wound] i. e. "thy heart wounded as mine is " MALONE. "O give it me, lest thy hard heart do steel it, "And being steel'd, soft sighs can never grave it: "Then love's deep groans I never shall regard, "Because Adonis' heart hath made mine hard." "For shame," he cries, "let go, and let me go; "My day's delight is past, my horse is gone, "And 'tis your fault I am bereft him so; "I pray you hence, and leave me here alone: "For all my mind, my thought, my busy care, "Is how to get my palfrey from the mare." Thus she replies: "Thy palfrey, as he should, "Welcomes the warm approach of sweet desire. "Affection is a coal that must be cool'd, "Else, suffer'd, it will set the heart on fire: "The sea hath bounds, but deep desire hath none, "Therefore no marvel though thy horse be gone. "How like a jade he stood, tied to the tree, "Servilely master'd with a leathern rein! "But when he saw his love, his youth's fair fee, "He held such petty bondage in disdain; 66 "Throwing the base thong from his bending crest, Enfranchising his mouth, his back, his breast. 66 "Who sees his true love in her naked bed, "Teaching the sheets a whiter hue than white. "But, when his glutton eye so full hath fed, "His other agents aim at like delight? "Who is so faint, that dare not be so bold, "Let me excuse thy courser, gentle boy; [thee. "Though I were dumb, yet his proceedings teach 66 "O learn to love; the lesson is but plain, "And, once made perfect, never lost again." "I know not love," quoth he, " nor will not know it, "Unless it be a boar, and then I chase it; ""Tis much to borrow, and I will not owe it; "My love to love 19 is love but to disgrace it; "For I have heard it is a life in death, "That laughs, and weeps, and all but with a breath. "Who wears a garment shapeless and unfinish'd? "Who plucks the bud before one leaf put forth? "If springing things be any jot diminish'd, "They wither in their prime, prove nothing worth: "The colt that's back'd and burthen'd being young, "Loseth his pride, and never waxeth strong. "You hurt my hand with wringing; let us part, "And leave this idle theme, this bootless chat : "Remove your siege from my unyielding heart; 19 My love to love, &c.] i. e. "my inclination towards love is only a desire to render it contemptible." MALONE. |