Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics Part 10

My sickly breath Wastes in a double flame, Whilst Love and Death To my poor life lay claim; The fever in whose heat I melt 5 By her that causeth it[61:1] not felt.

Thou who alone Canst, yet wilt grant no ease, Why slight'st thou one, To feed a new disease? 10 Unequal Fair! the heart is thine: Ah, why then should the pain be mine?

TIME RECOVER'D.

[Casone.]

Come, my Dear, whilst youth conspires With the warmth of our desires!

Envious Time about thee watches, And some grace each minute s.n.a.t.c.hes: Now a spirit, now a ray 5 From thy eye he steals away; Now he blasts some blooming rose Which upon thy fresh cheek grows; Gold now plunders in a hair; Now the rubies doth impair 10 Of thy lips; and with sure haste All thy wealth will take at last; Only that of which thou mak'st Use in time, from Time thou tak'st.

SONG.

[De Voiture.]

I languish in a silent flame: For she to whom my vows incline Doth own perfections so divine, That but to speak were to disclose her name.

If I should say that she the store 5 Of Nature's graces doth comprise, (The love and wonder of all eyes,) Who will not guess the Beauty I adore?

Or though I warily conceal The charms her looks and soul possess, 10 Should I her cruelty express, And say she smiles at all the pains we feel, Among such suppliants as implore Pity, distributing her hate, Inexorable as their fate,-- 15 Who will not guess the Beauty I adore?

APOLLO AND DAPHNE.

[Marino.]

When Phoebus saw a rugged bark beguile His love, and his embraces intercept, The leaves, instructed by his grief to smile, Taking fresh growth and verdure as he wept, 'How can,' saith he, 'my woes expect release, 5 When these,[62:1] the subject of my tears, increase?'

His chang'd yet scorn-retaining Fair he kiss'd, From the lov'd trunk plucking a little bough, And though the conquest which he sought he miss'd, With that triumphant spoil adorns his brow. 10 Thus this disdainful maid his aim deceives: Where he expected fruit he gathers leaves.

SONG: TORMENT OF ABSENCE AND DELAY.

[Montalvan.]

Torment of absence and delay That thus afflicts my memory!

Why dost thou kill me every day, Yet will not give me leave to die?

Why dost thou suffer me to live 5 All hope of life in life denying, Or to my patience tortures give Never to die, yet ever dying?

To fair Narcissa's brighter eyes I was by Love's instruction guided, 10 (A happiness I long did prize,) But now am from their light divided.

Favours and gifts my suit obtain'd, But envious Fate would now destroy them, Which if to lose I only gain'd, 15 What greater pain than to enjoy them?

A LADY WEEPING.

[Montalvan.]

As when some brook flies from itself away, The murmuring crystal loosely runs astray, And, as about the verdant plain it winds, The meadows with a silver ribbon binds, Printing a kiss on every flower she meets, 5 Losing herself to fill them with new sweets, To scatter frost upon the lily's head.

And scarlet on the gilliflower to spread,-- So melting sorrow, in the fair disguise Of humid stars,[63:1] flow'd from bright Chloris' eyes, 10 Which, watering every flower her cheek discloses, Melts into jasmines here, there into roses.

TO HIS MISTRESS IN ABSENCE.

[Ta.s.so.]

Far from thy dearest self, the scope Of all my aims, I waste in secret flames; And only live because I hope.

O when will Fate restore 5 The joys, in whose bright fire My expectation shall expire, That I may live because I hope no more!

THE HASTY KISS.

[Secundus.]

A kiss I begg'd, and thou didst[64:1] join Thy[64:2] lips to mine; Then, as afraid, s.n.a.t.c.h'd[64:3] back their treasure, And mock'd[64:4] my pleasure.

Again, my Dearest![64:5]--for in this 5 Thou only gav'st[64:6] desire, and not a kiss.

SONG: WHEN THOU THY PLIANT ARMS.

[Secundus.]

When thou thy pliant arms dost wreathe About my neck, and gently breathe Into my breast that soft sweet air With which thy soul doth mine repair; When my faint life thou draw'st away, 5 (My life which scorching flames decay,) O'ercharg'd, my panting bosom boils, Whose fever thy kind art beguiles, And with the breath that did inspire Doth mildly fan my glowing fire. 10 Transported, then I cry: 'Above All other deities is Love!

Or if a deity there be Greater than Love, 'tis only thee.'

SONG: 'TIS NO KISS.

[Secundus.]

'Tis no kiss my Fair bestows!

Nectar 'tis, whence new life flows.

All the sweets which nimble bees In their osier treasuries With unequall'd art repose, 5 In one kiss, her lips disclose.

These, if I should many take, Soon would me immortal make, Rais'd to the divine abodes, And the banquets of the G.o.ds. 10 Be not, then, too lavish, Fair!

But this heavenly treasure spare, 'Less thou'lt, too, immortal be: For without thy company What to me were the abodes 15 Or the banquets of the G.o.ds?

TRANSLATED FROM ANACREON.

I. _The Chase._

With a whip of lilies, Love Swiftly me before him drove: On we cours'd it through deep floods, Hollow valleys, and rough woods, Till a snake that lurking lay 5 Chanc'd to sting me by the way.

Now my soul was nigh to death, Ebbing, flowing, with my breath, When Love, fanning with his wings, Back my fleeting spirit brings: 10 'Learn,' saith he, 'another day, Love without constraint t'obey!'

II.

Vex no more thyself and me With demure philosophy, Hollow precepts, only fit To amuse the busy wit.

Teach me brisk Lyaeus' rites; 5 Teach me Venus' blithe delights.