Texts:Shakespeare/cw162344: Difference between revisions

[[Texts:Shakespeare|Links to Shakespeare's Works]]<h2>VENUS AND ADONIS</h2>

<blockquote><i>Vilia miretur vulgus; mihi flavus Apollo<br/>Pocula Castalia plena ministret aqua.</i></blockquote>

<p>Right Honourable, I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.

<hr />

<h4> VENUS AND ADONIS </h4>

Even as the sun with purple-colour'd face

   And like a bold-fac'd suitor 'gins to woo him.

Stain to all nymphs, more lovely than a man,

   Saith that the world hath ending with thy life.    12

And rein his proud head to the saddle-bow;

   And being set, I'll smother thee with kisses.

But rather famish them amid their plenty,            20

   And kissing speaks, with lustful language broken,

He burns with bashful shame, she with her tears

She bathes in water, yet her fire must burn:

   'Tis but a kiss I beg; why art thou coy?            96

Even by the stern and direful god of war,

   And begg'd for that which thou unask'd shalt have.

His batter'd shield, his uncontrolled crest,          104

   Making my arms his field, his tent my bed.        108

Leading him prisoner in a red rose chain:

   For mast'ring her that foil'd the god of fight.

Though mine be not so fair, yet are they red,        116

   Then why not lips on lips, since eyes in eyes?    120

And I will wink; so shall the day seem night.

   Never can blab, nor know not what we mean.

Shows thee unripe; yet mayst thou well be tasted,

   Rot, and consume themselves in little time.        132

Ill-nurtur'd, crooked, churlish, harsh in voice,

   But having no defects, why dost abhor me?

Mine eyes are grey and bright, and quick in turning;

   Would in thy palm dissolve, or seem to melt.      144

Or like a fairy, trip upon the green,

   Not gross to sink, but light, and will aspire.

These forceless flowers like sturdy trees support me;

   That thou shouldst think it heavy unto thee?      156

Can thy right hand seize love upon thy left?

   And died to kiss his shadow in the brook.

Dainties to taste, fresh beauty for the use,        164

   Thou wast begot; to get it is thy duty.            168

Unless the earth with thy increase be fed?

Like misty vapours when they blot the sky,          184

   The sun doth burn my face; I must remove.&amp;rdquo;

What bare excuses mak'st thou to be gone!            188

   If they burn too, I'll quench them with my tears.  192

And lo I lie between that sun and thee:

   Between this heavenly and earthly sun.

Nay more than flint, for stone at rain relenteth:    200

   She had not brought forth thee, but died unkind.  204

Or what great danger dwells upon my suit?

   And one for int'rest, if thou wilt have twain.

Well-painted idol, image dull and dead,              212

   She locks her lily fingers one in one.            228

Within the circuit of this ivory pale,

   Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie.

Sweet bottom grass and high delightful plain,        236

And from her twining arms doth urge releasing:      256

   Away he springs, and hasteth to his horse.

Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps,

   And this I do to captivate the eye                281

What recketh he his rider's angry stir,

What cares he now for curb or pricking spur?

Once more the engine of her thoughts began:

Would thou wert as I am, and I a man,

   Though nothing but my body's bane would cure thee.&amp;rdquo;

O give it me lest thy hard heart do steel it,

   Because Adonis' heart hath made mine hard.&amp;rdquo;

My day's delight is past, my horse is gone,          380

   Is how to get my palfrey from the mare.&amp;rdquo;          384

Welcomes the warm approach of sweet desire,

   Therefore no marvel though thy horse be gone.

Servilely master'd with a leathern rein!            392

   Enfranchising his mouth, his back, his breast.    396

Teaching the sheets a whiter hue than white,

   To touch the fire, the weather being cold?

And learn of him, I heartily beseech thee,          404

   And once made perfect, never lost again.&amp;rdquo;          408

Unless it be a boar, and then I chase it;

   That laughs and weeps, and all but with a breath.

Who plucks the bud before one leaf put forth?        416

   Loseth his pride, and never waxeth strong.        420

And leave this idle theme, this bootless chat:

   For where a heart is hard they make no batt'ry.&amp;rdquo;

O would thou hadst not, or I had no hearing;        428

   Ear's deep sweet music, and heart's deep sore wounding.

That inward beauty and invisible;

   Yet should I be in love by touching thee.

And that I could not see, nor hear, nor touch,      440

   Comes breath perfum'd, that breedeth love by smelling.

Being nurse and feeder of the other four;

   Shone like the moon in water seen by night.        492

Or in the ocean drench'd, or in the fire?

   But now I died, and death was lively joy.

Thy eyes' shrewd tutor, that hard heart of thine,    500

   But for thy piteous lips no more had seen.        504

Oh never let their crimson liveries wear,

   May say, the plague is banish'd by thy breath.

What bargains may I make, still to be sealing?      512

   Set thy seal manual on my wax-red lips.            516

And pay them at thy leisure, one by one,

   Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble?&amp;rdquo;

Measure my strangeness with my unripe years:        524

   Or being early pluck'd, is sour to taste.          528

His day's hot task hath ended in the west;

   Do summon us to part, and bid good night.

If you will say so, you shall have a kiss.&amp;rdquo;          536

The honey fee of parting tender'd is:

   He carries thence encaged in his breast.

For my sick heart commands mine eyes to watch.      584

   To hunt the boar with certain of his friends.      588

Like lawn being spread upon the blushing rose,

She's love, she loves, and yet she is not lov'd.

   You have no reason to withhold me so.&amp;rdquo;            612

But that thou told'st me thou wouldst hunt the boar.

   Like to a mortal butcher, bent to kill.

Of bristly pikes, that ever threat his foes;        620

   And whom he strikes his crooked tushes slay.      624

Are better proof than thy spear's point can enter;

   As fearful of him, part, through whom he rushes.

To which love's eyes pay tributary gazes;            632

   Would root these beauties as he roots the mead.

Beauty hath naught to do with such foul fiends:

   I fear'd thy fortune, and my joints did tremble.

Saw'st thou not signs of fear lurk in mine eye?      644

   But like an earthquake, shakes thee on my breast.

Doth call himself affection's sentinel;

Gives false alarms, suggesteth mutiny,

   Distemp'ring gentle love in his desire,

   As air and water do abate the fire.

This canker that eats up love's tender spring,      656

   That if I love thee, I thy death should fear.      660

The picture of an angry chafing boar,

   Doth make them droop with grief and hang the head.

That tremble at th'imagination?                      668

   If thou encounter with the boar tomorrow.          672

Uncouple at the timorous flying hare,

   And on thy well-breath'd horse keep with thy hounds.

Mark the poor wretch, to overshoot his troubles      680

   Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes.            684

To make the cunning hounds mistake their smell,

   Danger deviseth shifts, wit waits on fear.

The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt,

   As if another chase were in the skies.            696

Stands on his hinder legs with list'ning ear,

   To one sore sick that hears the passing bell.

Turn, and return, indenting with the way,            704

   And being low never reliev'd by any.              708

Nay, do not struggle, for thou shalt not rise:

   For love can comment upon every woe.

   And now 'tis dark, and going I shall fall.&amp;rdquo;

But if thou fall, oh then imagine this,

   Lest she should steal a kiss and die forsworn.

Cynthia for shame obscures her silver shine          728

   To shame the sun by day and her by night.          732

To cross the curious workmanship of nature,

   Of mad mischances and much misery.

Life-poisoning pestilence and frenzies wood,        740

   Swear nature's death, for framing thee so fair.    744

But in one minute's fight brings beauty under:

   As mountain snow melts with the midday sun.

Love-lacking vestals and self-loving nuns,          752

   Dries up his oil to lend the world his light.      756

Seeming to bury that posterity,

   Sith in thy pride so fair a hope is slain.

A mischief worse than civil home-bred strife,        764

   But gold that's put to use more gold begets.&amp;rdquo;      768

Into your idle over-handled theme;

   Your treatise makes me like you worse and worse.

And every tongue more moving than your own,          776

   And will not let a false sound enter there.        780

Into the quiet closure of my breast,

   But soundly sleeps, while now it sleeps alone.

The path is smooth that leadeth on to danger;        790

   When reason is the bawd to lust's abuse.          792

Since sweating lust on earth usurp'd his name;

   As caterpillars do the tender leaves.

But lust's effect is tempest after sun;              800

   Love is all truth, lust full of forged lies.      804

The text is old, the orator too green.

Passion on passion deeply is redoubled:              832

   And twenty echoes twenty times cry so.

Soothing the humour of fantastic wits?

Lo here the gentle lark, weary of rest,

Venus salutes him with this fair good morrow:

From whom each lamp and shining star doth borrow

   And sighing it again, exclaims on death.

Hateful divorce of love,&amp;rdquo; thus chides she death,

To stifle beauty and to steal his breath,

   Gloss on the rose, smell to the violet.            936

Seeing his beauty, thou shouldst strike at it,

   Mistakes that aim, and cleaves an infant's heart.

And hearing him, thy power had lost his power.      944

   And not death's ebon dart to strike him dead.      948

What may a heavy groan advantage thee?

   Imperious supreme of all mortal things.            996

Yet pardon me, I felt a kind of fear

   I rail'd on thee, fearing my love's decease.

Be wreak'd on him, invisible commander;            1004

   His victories, his triumphs and his glories.

To be of such a weak and silly mind,                1016

   And beauty dead, black Chaos comes again.        1020

As one with treasure laden, hemm'd with thieves,

   For oft the eye mistakes, the brain being troubled.

My sighs are blown away, my salt tears gone,

   So shall I die by drops of hot desire.

What face remains alive that's worth the viewing?

   But true sweet beauty liv'd and died with him.

Nor sun nor wind will ever strive to kiss you:

   Lurk'd like two thieves, to rob him of his fair.

Under whose brim the gaudy sun would peep;          1088

   They both would strive who first should dry his tears.

Behind some hedge, because he would not fear him;

   And never fright the silly lamb that day.

The fishes spread on it their golden gills;        1100

   He fed them with his sight, they him with berries.

Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave,

   He thought to kiss him, and hath kill'd him so.

He ran upon the boar with his sharp spear,          1112

   Sheath'd unaware the tusk in his soft groin.      1116

With kissing him I should have kill'd him first;

And every beauty robb'd of his effect.              1132

   That thou being dead, the day should yet be light.

Sorrow on love hereafter shall attend:              1136

   That all love's pleasure shall not match his woe.

Bud, and be blasted in a breathing while;

   Strike the wise dumb, and teach the fool to speak.

Teaching decrepit age to tread the measures;        1148

   Make the young old, the old become a child.      1152

It shall not fear where it should most mistrust;

   Put fear to valour, courage to the coward.

And set dissension 'twixt the son and sire;        1160

   Green-dropping sap, which she compares to tears.

Sweet issue of a more sweet-smelling sire,

   To wither in my breast as in his blood.

Thou art the next of blood, and 'tis thy right:    1184

   Means to immure herself and not be seen.