Reason
Reason proffers her love
Behold then, as my love and friend
Thou hast the choice thy life to spend.6130
Wot’st thou how great the gift I throw
Here at thy feet? Thou ne’er shouldst know
The pain of void unsatisfied,
But over all mischance shouldst ride
Triumphant, and shouldst lordly soar
’Bove proudest king or emperor.
How high soe’er thy soul aspire
Thou nought shalt fail of thy desire,
Seen thou art ready to fulfil,
Unmurmuring, all my sovereign will.6140
Dost thou with me in love engage,
One shall be thine whose lineage
Surpasseth all men might compare
Therewith, for I am child and heir
To God supreme, whose power and grace
Hath shed o’er all my form and face
His own unclouded brightness. See,
Dear friend, what beauty glows in me:
Yet ne’er hath dame of high repute
Loved with a love so absolute.6150
’Tis by my father’s will I make
That man my friend whose love I wake;
Nor need we tremble to incur
From him displeasure or demur,
But he will guard us ’neath his wing.
Say then, what think’st thou of this thing?
The god who holds thy heart in snare
So tightly, is his yoke more fair
