I'm blind, 'tis true, but, in Love's rules, defect Of sense is aided by the intellect; And senses by each other are supplied: The touch enjoys what's to the sight denied.
I Prithee let my heart alone, Since now 'tis rais'd above thee, Not all the beauty thou dost own, Again can make me love thee:
He that was shipwreck'd once before By such a Syren's call, And yet neglects to shun that shore, Deserves his second fall.
Each flatt'ring kiss, each tempting smile, Thou dost in vain bestow, 10 Some other lovers might beguile, Who not thy falsehood know.
But I am proof against all art. No vows shall e'er persuade me Twice to present a wounded heart To her that hath betray'd me.
Could I again be brought to love Thy form, though more divine, I might thy scorn as justly move, As now thou sufferest mine. 20
[_Song._] Pretty, and the double rhymes in stanzas 1 and 4 well brought off.]
Yet ere I go, Disdainful Beauty, thou shall be So wretched, as to know What joys thou fling'st away with me.
A faith so bright, As Time or Fortune could not rust; So firm, that lovers might Have read thy story in my dust,
And crown'd thy name With laurel verdant as thy youth, 10 Whilst the shrill voice of Fame Spread wide thy beauty and my truth.
This thou hast lost; For all true lovers, when they find That my just aims were crost, Will speak thee lighter than the wind.
And none will lay Any oblation on thy shrine, But such as would betray Thy faith, to faiths as false as thine. 20
Yet, if thou choose On such thy freedom to bestow, Affection may excuse, For love from sympathy doth flow.
[_The Loss._] Still good. But I have once more to demur to Miss Guiney's opinion that 'Thy' in l. 20, though found in all texts, should 'almost certainly' be 'Their'. In the first place, conjectural emendations in the teeth of text-agreement are never to be made without absolute necessity. In the second, the hackneyed observation about the less obvious reading is never so true as of the Caroline poets. In the third, this particular correction, if obvious in one sense, is but specious in another, and '_Their_ faith' will be found on examination to make less, not more, sense than 'Thy'. The meaning is, 'Such faith as thou mightest repose in them after being false to me', i.e. 'They would leave thee for other light-o'-loves'.]