To recreate himself when he hath sung,
The tyger would be tame, and gently hear him:
If he had spoke, the wolf would leave his prey,
And never fright the silly lamb that day.

When he beheld his shadow in a brook,
The fishes spread on it their golden gills:
When he was by, the birds such pleasure took,
That some would sing, some others in their bills
Would bring him mulberries, and ripe red cherries;
He fed them with his sight, they him with berries.

But this foul, grim, and urchin-snouted boar,
Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave,
Ne'er saw the beauteous livery that he wore;
Witness the entertainment that he gave,

If he did see his face, why then I know,
He thought to kiss him, and hath kill'd him so.

'Tis true, true, true, thus was Adonis slain,
He ran upon the boar with his sharp spear,
Who would not whet his teeth at him again,
But by a kiss thought to persuade him there:
And nousling in his flank, the loving swine
Sheath'd unaware his tusk in his soft groin.

Had I been tooth'd like him, I must confess,
With kissing him, I should have kill'd him first.
But he is dead, and never did he bless
My mouth with his; the more am I accurs'd.
With this she falleth in the place she stood,
And stains her face with his congealed blood.

She looks upon his lips, and they are pale;
She takes him by the hand, and that is cold;
She whispers in his ear a heavy tale,
As if he heard the woful words she told:

She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes,
Where, lo! two lamps burnt out in darkness lies.

Two glasses, where herself herself beheld
A thousand times, and now no more reflect;
Their virtue lost, wherein they late excell'd,
And every beauty robb'd of his effect.

Wonder of time (quoth she) this is my spright,
That you being dead, the world should yet be light.

Since thou art dead, lo! here I prophesy
Sorrow on love hereafter shall attend;
It shall be waited on with jealousy,
Finding sweet beginning, but unsavoury end,
Ne'er settled equally to high or low;

That all love's pleasures shall not match his woe.

It shall be fickle, false, and full of fraud,
And shall be blasted in a breathing while,
The bottom poison, and the top o'er-straw'd
With sweets, that shall the sharpest sight beguile.
The strongest body shall it make most weak,
Strike the wise dumb, and teach the fool to speak.

It shall be sparing, and too full of riot,
Teaching decrepit age to tread the measures;
The staring ruffian shall it keep in quiet,
Pluck down the rich, enrich the poor with treasures;
It shall be raging mad, and silly mild,

Make the young old, the old become a child.

It shall suspect, where is no cause of fear;
It shall not fear, where it should most mistrust:
It shall be merciful and too severe,

And most deceiving when it seems most just:
Perverse it shall be, when it seems most toward,
Put fear to valour, courage to the coward.

It shall be cause of war and dire events,
And set dissention 'twixt the son and sire;
Subject and servile to all discontents,
As dry combustious matter is to fire.

Sith, in his prime, death doth by love destroy,
They that love best their love shall not enjoy.

By this the boy that by her side lay kill'd,
Was melted like a vapour from her sight,
And in his blood, that on the ground lay spill'd,
A purple flower sprung up chequer'd with white,
Resembling well his pale cheeks and the blood,
Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood,

She bows her head the new-sprung flower to smell,
Comparing it to her Adonis' breath:
And says, within her bosom it shall dwell,
Since he himself is reft from her by death;

She crops the stalk, and in the breach appears
Green dropping sap, which she compares to tears:

Poor flower! (quoth she) this was thy father's guise,
Sweet issue of a more sweet-smelling sire,
For every little grief to wet his eyes,
To grow unto himself was his desire,
And so 'tis thine; but know it is as good
To wither in my breast, as in his blood.

Here was thy father's bed, here is my breast,
Thou art the next of blood, and 'tis thy right;
Lo! in this hollow cradle take thy rest,
My throbbing heart shall rock thee day and night;
There shall not be one minute of an hour,

Wherein I will not kiss my sweet love's flower.

Thus weary of the world, away she hies,
And yokes her silver doves, by whose swift aid,
'Their mistress mounted, through the empty skies
In her light chariot quickly is convey'd;

Holding their course to Paphos, where their queen
Means to immure herself, and not be seen.

TARQUIN AND LUCRECE.