I want a hand to guide me, an eye to cheer me, a bosom to repose on; all which I shall never have, but shall stagger into my grave, old before my time, unloved and unlovely, unless S. L. keeps her faith with me.
—But by her dove’s eyes and serpent-shape, I think she does not hate me; by her smooth forehead and her crested hair, I own I love her; by her soft looks and queen-like grace (which men might fall down and worship) I swear to live and die for her!
A PROPOSAL OF LOVE
(Given to her in our early acquaintance)
(Given to her in our early acquaintance)
(Given to her in our early acquaintance)
‘Oh! if I thought it could be in a woman(As, if it can, I will presume in you)To feed for aye her lamp and flames of love,To keep her constancy in plight and youth,Outliving beauties outward with a mindThat doth renew swifter than blood decays:Or that persuasion could but thus convince me,That my integrity and truth to youMight be confronted with the match and weightOf such a winnowed purity in love—How were I then uplifted! But, alas,I am as true as truth’s simplicity,And simpler than the infancy of truth.’Troilus and Cressida.
‘Oh! if I thought it could be in a woman(As, if it can, I will presume in you)To feed for aye her lamp and flames of love,To keep her constancy in plight and youth,Outliving beauties outward with a mindThat doth renew swifter than blood decays:Or that persuasion could but thus convince me,That my integrity and truth to youMight be confronted with the match and weightOf such a winnowed purity in love—How were I then uplifted! But, alas,I am as true as truth’s simplicity,And simpler than the infancy of truth.’Troilus and Cressida.
‘Oh! if I thought it could be in a woman(As, if it can, I will presume in you)To feed for aye her lamp and flames of love,To keep her constancy in plight and youth,Outliving beauties outward with a mindThat doth renew swifter than blood decays:Or that persuasion could but thus convince me,That my integrity and truth to youMight be confronted with the match and weightOf such a winnowed purity in love—How were I then uplifted! But, alas,I am as true as truth’s simplicity,And simpler than the infancy of truth.’
‘Oh! if I thought it could be in a woman
(As, if it can, I will presume in you)
To feed for aye her lamp and flames of love,
To keep her constancy in plight and youth,
Outliving beauties outward with a mind
That doth renew swifter than blood decays:
Or that persuasion could but thus convince me,
That my integrity and truth to you
Might be confronted with the match and weight
Of such a winnowed purity in love—
How were I then uplifted! But, alas,
I am as true as truth’s simplicity,
And simpler than the infancy of truth.’
Troilus and Cressida.
Troilus and Cressida.
PART II