The Teares of an affectionate Shepheard sicke for Loue. OR The Complaint of Daphnis for the Loue of Ganimede�

SCarce had the morning Starre hid from the light
Heauens crimson Canopie with stars bespangled,
But I began to rue th'vnhappy sight
Of that faire Boy that had my hart intangled;
Cursing the Time, the Place, the sense, the sin;
I came, I saw, I viewd, I slipped in.


If it be sinne to loue a sweet-fac'd Boy,
(Whoseamber locks trust vp in golden tramels
Dangle adowne his louely cheekes with ioy,
When pearle and flowers his faire haire enamels)
If it be sinne to loue a louely Lad;
Oh then sinne I, for whom my soule is sad.


His Iuory-white and Alablaster skin
Is staind throughout with rare Vermillion red,
Whose twinckling starrie lights doe neuer blin
To shine on louely Uenus (Beauties bed:)
But as the Lillie and the blushing Rose,
So white and red on him in order growes.


Vpon a time the Nymphs bestird them-selues
To trie who could his beautie soonest win:
But he accounted them but all as Elues,
Except it were the saire Queene Guendolen,
Her he embrac'd, of her was beloued,
With plaints he proued, and with teares he moued.


But her an Old-Man had beene sutor too,
That in his age began to doate againe;
Her would he often pray, and often woo,
When through old-age enfeebled was his Braine:
But she before had lou'd a lustie youth
That now was dead, the cause of all her ruth.


And thus it hapned, Death and Cupid met
Vpon a time at swilling Bacchus house,
Where daintie cates vpon the Boord were set,
And Goblets full of wine to drinke carouse:
Where Loue and Death did loue the licor so,
That out they fall and to the fray they goe.


And hauing both their Quiuers at their backe
[...]ild full of Arrows; Th'one of fatall steele;
The other all of gold; Deaths shaft was black,
But Loues was yellow: Fortune turnd her wheele;
And from Deaths Quiuer fell a fatall shaft,
That vnder Cupid by the winde was waft.


And at the same time by ill hap there fell
Another Arrow out of Cupids Quiuer;
The which was carried by the winde at will,
And vnder Death the amorous shaft did shiuer:
They being parted, Loue tooke vp Deaths dart,
And Death tooke vp Loues Arrow (for his part.)


Thus as they wandred both about the world,
At last Death met with one of feeble age:
Wherewith he drew a shaft and at him hurld
The vnknowne Arrow; (with a furious rage)
Thinking to strike him dead with Deaths blacke dart,
But he (alas) with Loue did wound his hart.


This was the doting foole, this was the man
That lou'd faire Guendolena Queene of Beautie;
Shee cannot shake him off, doo what she can,
For he hath vowd to her his soules last duety:
Making him trim vpon the holy-daies;
And crownes his Loue with Garlands made of Baies.


Now doth he stroke his Beard; and now (againe)
He wipes the driuel from his filthy chin;
Now offers he a kisse; but high Disdaine
Will not permit her hart to pity him:
Her hart more hard than Adamant or steele,
Her hart more changeable than Fortunes wheele.


But leaue we him in loue (vp to the eares)
And tell how Loue behau'd himselfe abroad;
Who seeing one that mourned still in teares
(a young-man groaning vnder Loues great Load)
Thinking to ease his Burden, rid his paines:
For men haue griefe as long as life remaines.


Alas (the while) that vnawares he drue
The fatall shaft that Death had dropt before;
By which deceit great harme did then insue,
Stayning his face with blood and filthy goare.
His face, that was to Guendolen more deere
Than loue of Lords, or any lordly Peere.


This was that faire and beautifull young-man,
Whom Guendolena so lamented for;
This is that Loue whom she doth curse and ban,
Because she doth that dismall chaunce abhor:
And if it were not for his Mothers sake,
Euen Ganimede himselfe she would forsake.


Oh would shee would forsake my Ganimede,
Whose sugred loue is full of sweete delight,
Vpon whose fore-head you may plainely reade
Loues Pleasure, grau'd in yuorie Tables bright:
In whose faire eye-balls you may clearely see
Base Loue still staind with foule indignitie.


O would to God he would but pitty mee,
That loue him more than any mortall wight;
Then he and I with loue would soone agree,
That now cannot abide his Sutors sight.
O would to God (so I might haue my fee)
My lips were honey, and thy mouth a Bee.


Then shouldst thou sucke my sweete and my faire flower
That now is ripe, and full of honey-berries:
Then would I leade thee to my pleasant Bower
Fild full of Grapes, of Mulberries, and Cherries;
Then shouldst thou be my Waspe or else my Bee,
I would thy hiue, and thou my honey bee.


I would put amber Bracelets on thy wrests,
Crownets of Pearle about thy naked Armes:
And when thou sitst at swilling Bacchus feasts
My lips with charmes should saue thee from all harmes:
And when in sleepe thou tookst thy chiefest Pleasure,
Mine eyes should gaze vpon thine eye-lids Treasure.


And euery Morne by dawning of the day,
When Phoebus riseth with a blushing face,
Siluanus Chappel-Clarkes shall chaunt a Lay,
And play thee hunts-vp in thy resting place:
My Coote thy Chamber, my bosome thy Bed;
Shall be appointed for thy sleepy head.


And when it pleaseth thee to walke abroad,
(Abroad into the fields to take fresh ayre:)
The Meades with Floras treasure should be strowde,
(The mantled meaddowes, and the fields so fayre.)
And by a siluer Well (with golden sands)
Ile sit me downe, and wash thine yuory hands.


And in the sweltring heate of summer time,
I would make Cabinets for thee (my Loue:)
Sweet-smelling Arbours made of Eglantine
Should be thy shrine, and I would be thy Doue.
Coole Cabinets of fresh greene Laurell boughs
Should shadow vs, ore-set with thicke-set Eughes.


Or if thou list to bathe thy naked limbs,
Within the Christall of a Pearle-bright brooke,
Paued with dainty pibbles to the brims;
Or cleare, wherein thy selfe thy selfe mayst looke;
Weele goe to Ladon, whose still trickling noyse,
Will lull thee fast asleepe amids thy ioyes.


Or if thoult goe vnto the Riuer side,
To angle for the sweet fresh-water fish:
Arm'd with thy implements that will abide
(Thy rod, hooke, line) to take a dainty dish;
Thy rods shall be of cane, thy lines of silke,
Thy hooks of siluer, and thy bayts of milke.


Or if thou lou'st to heare sweet Melodie,
Or pipe a Round vpon an Oaten Reede,
Or make thy selfe glad with some myrthfull glee,
Or play them Musicke whilst thy flocke doth feede;
To Pans owne Pype Ile helpe my louely Lad,
(Pans golden Pype) which he of Syrinx had.


Or if thou dar'st to climbe the highest Trees
For Apples, Cherries, Medlars, Peares, or Plumbs,
Nuts, Walnuts, Filbeards, Chest-nuts, Ceruices,
The hoary Peach, when snowy winter comes;
I haue fine Orchards full of mellowed frute;
Which I will giue thee to obtaine my sute.


Not proud Alcynous himselfe can vaunt,
Of goodlier Orchards or of brauer Trees
Than I haue planted; yet thou wilt not graunt
My simple sute; but like the honey Bees
Thou suckst the flowre till all the sweet be gone;
And lou'st mee for my Coyne till I haue none.


Leaue Guendolen (sweet hart) though she be faire
Yet is she light; not light in vertue shining:
But light in her behauiour, to impaire
Her honour in her Chastities declining;
Trust not her teares, for they can wantonnize,
When teares in pearle are trickling from her eyes.


If thou wilt come and dwell with me at home;
My sheep-cote shall be strowd with new greene rushes:
Weele haunt the trembling Prickets as they rome
About the fields, along the hauthorne bushes;
I haue a pie-bald Curre to hunt the Hare:
So we will liue with daintie forrest fare.


Nay more than this, I haue a Garden-plot,
Wherein there wants nor hearbs, nor roots, nor flowers;
(Flowers to smell, roots to eate, hearbs for the pot,)
And dainty Shelters when the Welkin lowers:
Sweet-smelling Beds of Lillies and of Roses,
Which Rosemary banks and Lauender incloses.


There growes the Gilliflowre, the Mynt, the Dayzie
(Both red and white,) the blew-veynd-Violet:
The purple Hyacinth, the Spyke to please thee,
The scarlet dyde Carnation bleeding yet;
The Sage, the Sauery, and sweet Margerum,
Isop, Tyme, & Eye-bright, good for the blinde & dumbe.


The Pinke, the Primrose, Cowslip and Daffadilly,
The Hare-bell blue, the crimson Cullumbine,
Sage, Lettis, Parsley, and the milke-white Lilly,
The Rose, and speckled flowre cald Sops in wine,
Fine pretie King-cups, and the yellow Bootes,
That growes by Riuers, and by shallow Brookes.


And manie thousand moe (I cannot name)
Of hearbs and flowers that in gardens grow,
I haue for thee; and Coneyes that be tame,
Yong Rabbets, white as Swan, and blacke as Crow,
Some speckled here and there with daintie spots:
And more I haue two mylch and milke-white Goates.


All these, and more, Ile giue thee for thy loue;
If these, and more, may tycethy loue away:
I haue a Pidgeon-house, in it a Doue,
Which I loue more than mortall tongue can say:
And last of all, Ile giue thee a little Lambe
To play withall, new weaned from her Dam.


But if thou wilt not pittie my Complaint,
My Teares, nor Vowes, nor Oathes, made to thy Beautie;
What shall I doo? But languish, die, or saint,
Since thou dost scorne my Teares, and my Soules Duetie:
And Teares contemned, Vowes and Oaths must faile;
For where Teares cannot, nothing can preuaile.


Compare the loue of faire Queene Guendolin
With mine, and thou shalt ee how she doth loue thee:
I loue thee for thy qualities diuine,
But Shee doth loue another Swaine aboue thee:
I loue thee for thy gifts, She for hir pleasure;
I for thy Vertue, She for Beauties treasure.


And alwaies (I am sure) it cannot last,
But sometime Nature will denie those dimples:
In steed of Beautie (when thy Blossom's past)
Thy face will be deformed, full of wrinckles:
Then She that lou'd thee for thy Beauties sake,
When Age drawes on, thy loue will soone forsake.


But I that lou'd thee for thy gifts diuine,
In the December of thy Beauties waning,
Will still admire (with ioy) those louely eine,
That now behold me with their beauties baning:
Though Ianuarie will neuer come againe,
Yet Aprill yeres will come in showers of raine.


When will my May come, that I may embrace thee?
When will the hower be of my soules ioying?
Why dost thou seeke in mirth still to disgrace mee?
Whose mirth's my health, whose griefe's my harts annoying.
Thy bane my bale, thy blisse my blessednes,
Thy ill my hell, thy weale my welfare is.


Thus doo I honour thee that loue thee so,
And loue thee so, that so doo honour thee,
Much more than anie mortall man doth know,
Or can discerne by Loue or Iealozie:
But if that thou disdainst my louing euer;
Oh happie I, if I had loued neuer.

 

Finis.

Plus fellis quam mellis Amor.