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Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics, Complete, In Their Collated Readings of 1647, 1651, 1657.: With an Introduction, Textual Notes, a List of Editions, an Appendix of Translations, and a Portrait. — John Shaqi

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Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics, Complete, In Their Collated Readings of 1647, 1651, 1657.: With an Introduction, Textual Notes, a List of Editions, an Appendix of Translations, and a Portrait.

Name: Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics, Complete, In Their Collated Readings of 1647, 1651, 1657.: With an Introduction, Textual Notes, a List of Editions, an Appendix of Translations, and a Portrait.
Author: Stanley, Thomas

Stanley, Thomas

English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700; Stanley, Thomas, 1625-1678

But I am proof against all art:
      No vows shall e'er persuade me
    Twice to present a wounded heart                                  15
      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


          THE LOSS.

        Yet ere I go,
    Disdainful Beauty, thou shalt be
        So wretched as to know
    What joys thou fling'st away with me:

        A faith so bright,                                             5
    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 crossed,                               15
    Will speak thee lighter than the wind;

        And none will lay
    Any oblation on thy shrine,
        But such as would betray
    Their[56:1] 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 SELF-CRUEL.[57:1]

    Cast off, for shame, ungentle maid,
      That misbecoming joy thou wear'st!
    For in my death (though long delay'd),
      Unwisely cruel thou appear'st.
    Insult o'er captives with disdain:                                 5
    Thou canst not triumph o'er the slain.

    No, I am now no longer thine;
      Nor canst thou take delight to see
    Him whom thy love did once confine
      Set, though by death, at liberty;                               10
    For if my fall a smile beget,
    Thou gloriest in thy own defeat.

    Behold how thy unthrifty pride
      Hath murthered him that did maintain it;
    And wary souls who never tried                                    15
      Thy tyrant beauty, will disdain it:
    But I am softer, and, (though[57:2] me
    Thou wouldst not pity,) pity thee.


          AN ANSWER TO A SONG, "WERT THOU MUCH [?] FAIRER
            THAN THOU ART," BY MR. W. M.[58:1]

    Wert thou by all affections sought,
    And fairer than thou wouldst be thought,
    Or had thine eyes as many darts
    As thou believ'st they shoot at hearts,
    Yet if thy love were paid to me,                                   5
    I would not offer mine to thee.

    I'd sooner court a fever's heat,
    Than her that owns a flame as[58:2] great.
    She that my love will entertain
    Must meet it with no less disdain;                                10
    For mutual fires themselves destroy,
    And willing kisses yield no joy.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics, Complete, In Their Collated Readings of 1647, 1651, 1657.: With an Introduction, Textual Notes, a List of Editions, an Appendix of Translations, and a Portrait.

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