20SP_EH362A-Renaissances (cat. 1)

HE long love that in my thought I
        harbour,
  And in mine heart doth keep his re-
        sidence,
Into my face presseth with bold pretence,
And therein campeth displaying his banner.
She that me learneth to love and to suffer,
And wills that my trust, and lust's negligence
Be reined by reason, shame, and reverence,
With his hardiness takes displeasure.
Wherewith love to the heart's forest he fleeth,
Leaving his enterprise with pain and cry,
And there him hideth, and not appeareth.
What may I do, when my master feareth,
    But in the field with him to live and die?
    For good is the life, ending faithfully.

FIND no peace, and all my war is done ;
I fear and hope, I burn, and freeze like
      ice ;
I fly aloft, yet can I not arise ;
And nought I have, and all the world I seize on,
That locks nor loseth, holdeth me in prison,
And holds me not, yet can I scape no wise :
Nor lets me live, nor die, at my devise,
And yet of death it giveth me occasion.
Without eye I see ; without tongue I plain :
I wish to perish, yet I ask for health ;
I love another, and thus I hate myself ;
I feed me in sorrow, and laugh in all my pain.
    Lo, thus displeaseth me both death and life,
    And my delight is causer of this strife.

Y galley chargèd with forgetfulness
   Thorough² sharp seas, in winter nights doth pass
   'Tween rock and rock; and eke³ mine enemy, alas,
That is my lord, steereth with cruelness,
And every oar a thought in readiness,
As though that death were light in such a case.⁴
An endless wind doth tear the sail apace
Of forcèd sighs and trusty fearfulness.⁵
A rain of tears, a cloud of dark disdain,
Hath done the wearied cords great hinderance;
Wreathèd with error and eke with ignorance.
The stars be hid that led me to this pain.
    Drownèd is reason that should me consort,⁶
    And I remain despairing of the port.

  THE soote ¹ season, that bud and bloom forth brings,
  With green hath clad the hill, and eke ² the vale.
  The nightingale with feathers new she sings ;
  The turtle ³ to her make ⁴ hath told her tale.
  Summer is come, for every spray⁵ now springs,
  The hart ⁶ hath hung his old head ⁷ on the pale;⁸
  The buck in brake ⁹ his winter coat he slings ;
  The fishes flete ¹⁰ with new repairèd scale ;
  The adder all her slough away she slings ;
  The swift swallow pursueth the fliës smale ;¹¹
  The busy bee her honey now she mings ;¹²
  Winter is worn¹³ that was the flowers' bale.¹⁴
      And thus I see among these pleasant things
      Each care¹⁵ decays, and yet my sorrow springs

LOVE, that liveth and reigneth in my thought,
That built his seat within my captive breast ;
Clad in the arms wherein with me he fought,
Oft in my face he doth his banner rest.
She, that taught me to love, and suffer pain ;
My doubtful hope, and eke my hot desire
With shamefaced cloak to shadow and restrain,
Her smiling grace converteth straight to ire.
And coward Love then to the heart apace
Taketh his flight ; whereas he lurks, and plains
His purpose lost, and dare not shew his face.
For my Lord's guilt thus faultless bide I pains.
    Yet from my Lord shall not my foot remove :
    Sweet is his death, that takes his end by love.

FROM Tuscane came my lady's worthy race ;
Fair Florence was sometime her ancient seat.
The western isle whose pleasant shore doth face
Wild Camber's cliffs, did give her lively heat.
Foster'd she was with milk of Irish breast :
Her sire an Earl, her dame of Prince's blood.
From tender years, in Britain doth she rest,
With Kinges child ; where she tasteth costly food.
Hunsdon did first present her to mine eyen :
Bright is her hue, and Geraldine she hight.
Hampton me taught to wish her first for mine ;
And Windsor, alas ! doth chase me from her sight.
    Her beauty of kind ; her virtues from above ;
    Happy is he that may obtain her love !

SET me whereas the sun doth parch the green
Or where his beams do not dissolve the ice ;
In temperate heat, where he is felt and seen ;
In presence prest¹ of people, mad, or wise ;
Set me in high, or yet in low degree ;
In longest night, or in the shortest day ;
In clearest sky, or where clouds thickest be ;
In lusty youth, or when my hairs are gray :
Set me in heaven, in earth, or else in hell,
In hill, or dale, or in the foaming flood ;
Thrall, or at large, alive whereso I dwell,
Sick, or in health, in evil fame or good,
     Her's will I be ; and only with this thought
     Content myself, although my chance be nought.