Impossible shall be our hope;
And love shall only have his scope
To join with fancy now and then,
And think what reason would condemn:
And on these grounds we'll love as true,15
As if they were most sure t' ensue:
And chastly for these things we'll stay,
As if to-morrow were the day.
Meantime we two will teach our hearts
In love's burdens bear their parts:20
Thou first shall sigh, and say she's fair;
And I'll still answer, past compare.
Thou shalt set out each part o' th' face,
While I extol each little grace:
Thou shalt be ravisht at her wit;25
And I, that she so governs it:
Thou shalt like well that hand, that eye,
That lip, that look, that majesty,
And in good language them adore;
While I want words and do it more.30
Yea we will sit and sigh a while,
And with soft thoughts some time beguile;
But straight again break out, and praise
All we had done before, new-ways.
Thus will we do, till paler death35
Come with a warrant for our breath;
And then, whose fate shall be to die
First of us two, by legacy
Shall all his store bequeath, and give
His love to him that shall survive;40
For no one stock can ever serve
To love so much as she'll deserve.
SONG
1
If in all thy love there ever
Was one wav'ring thought, if thy flame
Were not still even, still the same:
Know this,5
Thou lov'st amiss;
And, to love true,
Thou must begin again, and love anew.
