Par. Give me thy torch, boy: hence, and stand aloof:[1439]
Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.
Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along,[1440]
Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground;[1441]
So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread, 5
Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves,
But thou shalt hear it: whistle then to me,
As signal that thou hear'st something approach.[1442]
Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee, go.
Page. [Aside] I am almost afraid to stand alone[1443] 10
Here in the churchyard; yet I will adventure.[1444] [Retires.
Par. Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew,—[1445][1446]
O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones;—[1446][1447]
Which with sweet water nightly I will dew,[1447][1448]
Or, wanting that, with tears distill'd by moans:[1447] 15
The obsequies that I for thee will keep[1447]
Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep.[1447][1449]
[The Page whistles.
The boy gives warning something doth approach.
What cursed foot wanders this way to-night,[1450]
To cross my obsequies and true love's rite?[1451] 20
What, with a torch! Muffle me, night, awhile.[1452] [Retires.
Enter Romeo and Balthasar, with a torch, mattock, &c.[1453]
Rom. Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron.[1454]
Hold, take this letter; early in the morning
See thou deliver it to my lord and father.
Give me the light: upon thy life, I charge thee, 25
Whate'er thou hear'st or seest, stand all aloof,[1455]
And do not interrupt me in my course.
Why I descend into this bed of death
Is partly to behold my lady's face,
But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger 30
A precious ring, a ring that I must use
In dear employment: therefore hence, be gone:
But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry
In what I farther shall intend to do,[1456]
By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint 35
And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs:
The time and my intents are savage-wild,[1457]
More fierce and more inexorable far
Than empty tigers or the roaring sea.
Bal. I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you.[1458][1459] 40
Rom. So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou[1460]
that:
Live, and be prosperous: and farewell, good fellow.[1458]