SONNETS.
I.
TO THE NIGHTINGALE.
O Nightingale that on yon bloomy spray
Warblest at eve, when all the woods are still,
Thou with fresh hope the lover’s heart dost fill,
While [the jolly Hours] lead on propitious May.
[Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day,] 5
[First heard before the shallow cuckoo’s bill,]
Portend success in love. O, if Jove’s will
Have linked that amorous power to thy soft lay,
Now timely sing, ere [the rude bird of hate]
Foretell my hopeless doom, in some grove nigh; 10
As thou from year to year hast sung too late
For my relief, yet hadst no reason why.
Whether the Muse or Love called thee his mate,
Both them I serve, and of their train am I.
II.
ON HIS HAVING ARRIVED AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-THREE.
How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew’th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth 5
That I to manhood am arrived so near;
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more [timely-happy] spirits endu’th.
Yet, be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure [even] 10
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven.
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Task-Master’s eye.
VIII.
WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY.
Captain or [Colonel], or Knight in Arms,
Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize,
If deed of honor did thee ever please,
Guard them, and him within protect from harms.
He can requite thee; for he knows the charms 5
That call fame on such gentle acts as these,
And he can spread thy name o’er lands and seas,
Whatever clime the sun’s bright circle warms.
Lift not thy spear against the Muses’ bower:
[The great Emathian conqueror] bid spare 10
[The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower]
[Went to the ground]; and [the repeated air]
[Of sad Electra’s poet] had the power
To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare.
IX.
TO A VIRTUOUS YOUNG LADY.
Lady, that in the prime of earliest youth
[Wisely hast shunned the broad way] and the green,
And with those few art eminently seen
That labor up the hill of heavenly Truth,
[The better part with Mary and with Ruth] 5
Chosen thou hast; and they that overween,
And at thy growing virtues fret their spleen,
No anger find in thee, but pity and [ruth].
Thy care is fixed, and [zealously attends]
[To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light], 10
And hope that reaps not shame. Therefore be sure
Thou, when the Bridegroom with his feastful friends
Passes to bliss at the mid-hour of night,
Hast gained thy entrance, Virgin wise, and pure.
X.
TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY.
Daughter to that good Earl, once President
Of England’s Council and her Treasury,
Who lived in both unstained with gold or fee,
And left them both, more in himself content,
Till the sad breaking of that Parliament 5
Broke him, as [that dishonest victory]
[At Chæronea], fatal to liberty,
Killed with report [that old man eloquent],
Though [later born than to have] known the days
Wherein your father flourished, yet by you, 10
Madam, methinks I see him living yet:
So well your words his noble virtues praise
That all both judge you to relate them true
And to possess them, honored Margaret.
XIII.
TO MR. H. LAWES ON HIS AIRS.
Harry, whose tuneful and well-measured song
First taught our English music how to span
Words with just note and accent, [not to scan]
[With Midas’ ears], [committing short and long],
Thy [worth and skill exempts thee] from the throng, 5
With praise enough for Envy to look wan;
To after age thou shalt be writ the man
That with smooth air [couldst humor best our tongue].
Thou honor’st Verse, and Verse must send her wing
To honor thee, the priest of P[hœbus’ quire], 10
That tunest their happiest lines in hymn or story.
[Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher]
[Than his Casella], whom he wooed to sing,
Met in the milder shades of Purgatory.
XV.
ON THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX, AT THE SIEGE OF COLCHESTER.
Fairfax, whose name in arms through Europe rings,
Filling each mouth with envy or with praise,
And all her jealous monarchs with amaze,
And rumors loud that daunt remotest kings,
Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings 5
Victory home, though new rebellions raise
Their Hydra heads, and [the false North displays]
[Her broken league] to [imp their serpent wings].
O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand
(For what can war but endless war still breed?) 10
Till truth and right from violence be freed,
And public faith cleared from the shameful brand
Of public fraud. In vain doth [Valor] bleed,
While [Avarice and Rapine] share the land.
XVI.
TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL, MAY, 1652,
ON THE PROPOSALS OF CERTAIN MINISTERS AT THE COMMITTEE FOR PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL.
Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud
Not of war only, but detractions rude,
Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,
To peace and truth thy glorious way hast ploughed,
And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud 5
Hast reared God’s trophies, and his work pursued,
While [Darwen stream], with blood of Scots imbrued,
And [Dunbar] field, resounds thy praises loud,
And Worcester’s laureate wreath: yet much remains
To conquer still; Peace hath her victories 10
No less renowned than War: new foes arise,
Threatening [to bind our souls with secular chains].
Help us to save free conscience from the paw
Of [hireling wolves], whose Gospel is their maw.
XVII.
TO SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER.
[Vane, young in years], but in sage counsel old,
Than whom a better senator ne’er held
The helm of Rome, when [gowns, not arms], repelled
[The fierce Epirot and the African bold],
Whether to settle peace, or to unfold 5
The drift of hollow states [hard to be spelled];
Then to advise how war may best, upheld,
Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold,
In all her equipage; besides, to know
Both spiritual power and civil, what each means, 10
What severs each, thou hast learned, which few have done.
The bounds of either sword to thee we owe:
Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans
In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son.
XVIII.
ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT.
Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
[When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones],
Forget not: in thy book record [their groans] 5
[Who were thy sheep], and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow 10
O’er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway
[The triple Tyrant]; that from these may grow
A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way,
Early may fly [the Babylonian woe].
XIX.
ON HIS BLINDNESS.
When I consider how my light is spent
[Ere half my days] in this dark world and wide,
[And that one talent which is death to hide]
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present 5
My true account, lest He returning chide,
“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”
[I fondly ask]. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts. Who best 10
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
XX.
TO MR. LAWRENCE.
Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son,
Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire,
Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire
Help waste a sullen day, what may be won
From the hard season gaining? Time will run 5
On smoother, till [Favonius] reinspire
The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire
The lily and rose, that neither sowed nor spun.
What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,
Of [Attic] taste, with wine, whence we may rise 10
To hear the lute well touched, or artful voice
Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air?
He who of those delights can judge, [and spare]
[To interpose them oft], is not unwise.
XXI.
TO CYRIACK SKINNER.
[Cyriack, whose grandsire] on the royal bench
Of British [Themis], with no mean applause,
Pronounced, and in his volumes taught, our laws,
Which others at their bar so often wrench,
To-day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench 5
In mirth that after no repenting draws;
[Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause],
[And what the Swede intend, and what the French].
To measure life learn thou betimes, and know
Toward solid good what leads the nearest way; 10
For other things mild Heaven a time ordains,
And disapproves that care, though wise in show,
That with superfluous burden loads the day,
And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains.
XXII.
TO THE SAME.
Cyriack, [this three years’ day] these eyes, though clear,
To outward view, of blemish or of spot,
Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot;
Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear
Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year, 5
Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not
Against Heaven’s hand or will, nor bate a jot
Of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer
Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask?
[The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied] 10
In Liberty’s defence, my noble task,
Of which all Europe rings from side to side.
This thought might lead me through the world’s vain mask
Content, though blind, had I no better guide.
XXIII.
ON HIS DECEASED WIFE
Methought I saw my late espoused saint
Brought to me [like Alcestis] from the grave,
Whom Jove’s great son to her glad husband gave,
Rescued from Death by force, though pale and faint.
Mine, as whom washed from spot of child-bed taint 5
[Purification in the Old Law] did save,
And such as yet once more I trust to have
Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint,
Came vested all in white, pure as her mind.
Her face was veiled; yet to my fancied sight 10
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined
So clear as in no face with more delight.
But, oh! as to embrace me she inclined,
I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night.