(From "The Faerie Queene.")
AND is there care in heaven?
In heavenly spirits to these creatures base,
That may compassion of their evils move?
There is: else much more wretched were the case
Of men than beasts. But oh! the exceeding grace
Of mighty God, that loves his creatures so,
And all his works with mercy doth embrace,
That blessed angels he sends to and fro,
To serve the wicked man to serve his wicked foe!
How oft do they their silver bowers leave
To come to succor us that succor want!
How oft do they with golden pinions cleave
The flitting skies, like flying pursuivant,
Against foul fiends to aid us militant!
For us they fight, they watch and duly ward,
And their bright squadrons round about us plant;
And all for love, and nothing for reward.
Oh, why should heavenly God to men have such regard?
THE CAVE OF SLEEP.
(From "The Faerie Queene.")
HE, making speedy way through spersed ayre
And through the world of waters wide and deepe,
To Morpheus house doth hastily repaire
Amid the bowels of the earth full steepe,
And low, where dawning day doth never peepe,
His dwelling is; there Tethys his wet bed
Doth ever wash, and Cynthia still doth steepe
In silver deaw his ever-drouping hed,
Whiles sad Night over him her mantle black doth spred.
And, more, to lulle him in his slumber soft,
A trickling streame from high rock tumbling downe,
And ever-drizling raine upon the loft,
Mixt with a murmuring winde, much like the sowne
Of swarming bees, did cast him in a swowne.
No other noyse, nor peoples troublous cryes,
As still are wont t' annoy the walled towne,
Might there be heard; but carelesse Quiet lyes
Wrapt in eternall silence, farre from enimyes.
HEAVENLY AND EARTHLY BEAUTY.
(From "Hymn of Heavenly Beauty.")
RAPT with the rage of mine own ravished thought, Through contemplation of those goodly sights And glorious images in heaven wrought,
Whose wondrous beauty, breathing sweet delights,
Do kindle love in high-conceited sprites,
I fain to tell the things that I behold,
But feel my wits to fail, and tongue to fold.
Vouchsafe then, O thou most Almighty Sprite,
From whom all gifts of wit and knowledge flow,
To shed into my breast some sparkling light
Of Thine eternal truth, that I may show
Some little beams to mortal eyes below
Of that Immortal Beauty there with Thee
Which in my weak, distraughted mind I see;
That with the glory of so goodly sight
The hearts of men, which fondly here admire Fair seeming shows, and feed on vain delight, Transported with celestial desire
Of these fair forms, may lift themselves up higher, And learn to love, with zealous, humble duty, The eternal fountain of that Heavenly Beauty.
Ne from thenceforth doth any fleshly sense
Or idle thought of earthly things remain;
But all that erst seemed sweet seems now offence,
And all that pleasèd erst now seems to pain.
Their joy, their comfort, their desire, their gain
Is fixed all on that which now they see;
All other sights but feignèd shadows be.
And that fair lamp which useth to inflame
The hearts of men with self-consuming fire,
Thenceforth seems foul, and full of sinful blame;
And all that pomp to which proud minds aspire
By name of honor, and so much desire,
Seems to them baseness, and all riches dross,
And all mirth sadness, and all lucre less.
So full their eyes are of that glorious sight,
And senses fraught with such satiety,
That in naught else on earth they can delight
But in th' aspect of that felicity,
Which they have written in their inward eye,
On which they feed, and in their fastened mind
All happy joy and full contentment find.
And then, my hungry soul, which long hast fed
On idle fancies of my foolish thought,
And, with false Beauty's flattering bait misled,
Hast after vain, deceitful shadows sought,
Which all are fled, and now have left thee naught
But late repentance through thy folly's prief,
Ah! cease to gaze on matter of thy grief;
And look at last up to that sovereign light
From whose pure beams all perfect Beauty springs, That kindleth love in every godly sprite
Even the Love of God, which loathing brings
Of this vile world and these gay-seeming things;
With whose sweet pleasures being so possessed,
Thy straying thoughts henceforth forever rest.
WEDLOCK A FREE BONDAGE.
THE doubt which ye misdeem, fair love, is vain,
That fondly fear to lose your liberty;
When, losing one, two liberties ye gain,
And make him bound that bondage erst did fly. Sweet be the bonds the which true love doth tye, Without constraint or dread of any ill.
The gentle bird feels no captivity
Within her cage; but sings and feeds her fill;
There Pride dare not approach, nor Discord spill The league 'twixt them that loyal love hath bound; But simple truth, and mutual good-will,
Seeks, with sweet peace, to salve each other's wound; There faith doth fearless dwell in brazen tower, And spotless Pleasure builds her sacred bower.
(From "Hymn in Honor of Beauty.")
So every spirit, as it is most pure,
And hath in it the more of heavenly light,
So it the fairer body doth procure
To habit in, and it more fairly dight
With cheerful grace and amiable sight;
For of the soul the body form doth take;
For soul is form, and doth the body make.
Therefore wherever that thou dost behold
A comely corpse, with beauty fair endued,
Know this for certain, that the same doth hold
A beauteous soul, with fair conditions thewed,
Fit to receive the seed of virtue strewed;
For all that fair is, is by nature good;
That is a sign to know the gentle blood.
Yet oft it falls that many a gentle mind
Dwells in deformèd tabernacle drowned,
Either by chance, against the course of kind,
Or through unaptness in the substance found,
Which it assumed of some stubborne ground,
That will not yield unto her form's direction,
But is performed with some foul imperfection
And oft it falls (aye me, the more to rue!)
That goodly beauty, albeit heavenly born,
Is foul abused, and that celestial hue,
Which doth the world with her delight adorn,
Made but the bait of sin, and sinners' scorn,
Whilst every one doth seek but to deprave it.
Yet nathèmore is that faire beauty's blame,
But theirs that do abuse it unto ill:
Nothing so good, but that through guilty shame
May be corrupt, and wrested unto will:
Natheless the soule is fair and beauteous still,
However fleshe's fault it filthy make;
For things immortal no corruption take.
THE BRIDE.
(From "The Epithalamion.")
LOE! where she comes along with portly pace,
Lyke Phoebe, from her chamber of the East,
Arysing forth to run her mighty race,
Clad all in white, that seems a virgin best.
So well it her beseems, that ye would weene
Some angell she had beene.
Her long loose yellow locks lyke golden wyre,
Sprinckled with perle, and perling flowres at weene,
Doe lyke a golden mantle her attyre,
And, being crowned with a girland greene,
Seem lyke some mayden queene.
Her modest eyes, abashed to behold
So many gazers as on her do stare,
Upon the lowly ground affixèd are,
Ne dare lift up her countenance too bold,
But blush to heare her prayses sung so loud
So farre from being proud.
Nathlesse doe ye still loud her prayses sing,
That all the woods may answer, and your eccho ring.
Tell me, ye merchants daughters, did ye see
So fayre a creature in your towne before;
So sweet, so lovely, and so mild as she,
Adorned with beautyes grace and vertues store?
Her goodly eyes lyke saphyres shining bright,
Her forehead yvory white,
Her cheekes lyke apples which the sun hath rudded,
Her lips lyke cherries, charming men to byte,
Her brest lyke to a bowl of creame uncrudded,
Her paps lyke lyllies budded,
Her snowie necke lyke to a marble towre,
And all her body like a pallace fayre,
Ascending up, with many a stately stayre,
To honors seat and chastities sweet bowre.
Why stand ye still, ye virgins, in amaze,
Upon her so to gaze,
Whiles ye forget your former lay to sing,
To which the woods did answer, and your eccho ring?
AT THE ALTAR.
(From "The Epithalamion.")
OPEN the temple gates unto my love,
Open them wide that she may enter in,
And all the posts adorn as doth behove,
And all the pillows deck with garlands trim,
For to receive this saint with honor due,
That cometh in to you.
With trembling steps, and humble reverence,
She cometh in, before the Almighty's view;
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