So full their eyes are of that glorious sight,
And senses fraught with such satietie.
That in nought else on earth they can delight,
But in th’aspect of that felicitie
Which they have written in theyr inward ey; 285
On which they feed, and in theyr fastened mynd
All happie ioy and full contentment fynd.
Ah, then, my hungry soule! which long hast fed
On idle fancies of thy foolish thought,
And, with false Beauties flattring bait misled, 290
Hast after vaine deceiptfull shadowes sought,
Which all are fled, and now have left thee nought
But late repentance, through thy follies prief,
Ah! ceasse to gaze on matter of thy grief:
And looke at last up to that Soveraine Light, 295
From whose pure beams al perfect Beauty springs,
That kindleth love in every godly spright,
Even the love of God; which loathing brings
Of this vile world and these gay-seeming things;
With whose sweet pleasures being so possest, 300
Thy straying thoughts henceforth for ever rest.
EPIGRAMS AND SONNETS.
EPIGRAMS.
I.*
[* In the folio of 1611, these four short pieces are appended to the Sonnets. The second and third are translated from Marot’s Epigrams, Liv. III. No. 5, De Diane, and No. 24, De Cupido et de sa Dame. C.]
In youth, before I waxed old,
The blynd boy, Venus baby,
For want of cunning, made me bold
In bitter hyve to grope for honny:
But when he saw me stung and cry,
He tooke his wings and away did fly.