EXCUSE FOR WISHING HER LESS FAIR.[29:1]
Why thy passion should it move
That I wished thy beauty less?
Fools desire what is above
Power of nature to express;
And to wish it had been more5
Had been to outwish her store.
If the flames within thine eye
Did not too great heat inspire,
|
Men might languish, yet not die, At thy less ungentle fire,10 | } |
[29:2] |
And might on thy weaker light
Gaze, and yet not lose their sight.
Nor wouldst thou less fair appear,
For detraction adds to thee;
If some parts less beauteous were,15
Others would much fairer be;
Nor can any part we know
Best be styl’d, when all are so.
Thus this great excess of light,
Which now dazzles our weak eyes,20
Would, eclips’d, appear more bright;
And the only way to rise,
Or to be more fair, for[29:3] thee,
Celia! is less fair to be.
Celia, Sleeping or Singing.[30:1]