If Cynthia Be a Queen (Excerpt)
If Cynthia be a queen, a princess, and supreme,
Keep these among the rest, or say it was a dream,
For those that like, expound, and those that loathe express
Meanings according as their minds are moved more or less;
For writing what thou art, or showing what thou were,
The Crosse of Christ (Excerpt)
Rise, O my soul, with thy desires to heaven,
And with divinest contemplation use
Thy time, where time's eternity is given;
And let vain thoughts no more thy thoughts abuse,
But down in midnight darkness let them lie;
So live thy better, let thy worst thoughts die.
And thou, my soul, inspired with holy flame,
View and review, with most regardful eie,
That holy crosse whence thy salvation came,
On which thy Saviour and thy sin did die;
No Pleasure Without Pain (Excerpt)
Sweet were the joys that both might like and last;
Strange were the state exempt from all distress;
Happy the life that no mishap should taste;
Blessed the chance might never change success.
Were such a life to lead or state to prove,
Who would not wish that such a life were love?
But oh! the soury sauce of sweet unsure,
When pleasures flit, and fly with waste of wind.
The trustless trains that hoping hearts allure,
The Passionate Man's Pilgrimage (Excerpt)
Give me my scallop shell of quiet,
My staff of faith to walk upon,
My scrip of joy, immortal diet,
My bottle of salvation,
My gown of glory, hope's true gage,
And thus I'll take my pilgrimage.
Blood must be my body's balmer,
No other balm will there be given,
Whilst my soul, like a white palmer,
Travels to the land of heaven;
Over the silver mountains,
Where spring the nectar fountains;
And there I'll kiss
The bowl of bliss,
And drink my eternal fill
On every milken hill.
What Is Our Life (Excerpt)
WHAT is our life? The play of passion.
Our mirth? The music of division:
Our mothers’ wombs the tiring-houses be,
Where we are dressed for life’s short comedy.
The earth the stage; Heaven the spectator is,
Who sits and views whosoe’er doth act amiss.
- Walter Raleigh
