863. UPON LOVE.
Love brought me to a silent grove
And show'd me there a tree,
Where some had hang'd themselves for love,
And gave a twist to me.
The halter was of silk and gold,
That he reach'd forth unto me;
No otherwise than if he would
By dainty things undo me.
He bade me then that necklace use;
And told me, too, he maketh
A glorious end by such a noose,
His death for love that taketh.
'Twas but a dream; but had I been
There really alone,
My desp'rate fears in love had seen
Mine execution.
864. NO DIFFERENCE I' TH' DARK.
Night makes no difference 'twixt the priest and clerk;
Joan as my lady is as good i' th' dark.
865. THE BODY.
The body is the soul's poor house or home,
Whose ribs the laths are, and whose flesh the loam.