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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.Stanley, Thomas

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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

Come, my Dear, whilst youth conspires
    With the warmth of our desires!
    Envious Time about thee watches,
    And some grace each minute snatches:
    Now a spirit, now a ray                                            5
    From thy eye he steals away;
    Now he blasts some blooming rose
    Which upon thy fresh cheek grows;
    Gold now plunders in a hair;
    Now the rubies doth impair                                        10
    Of thy lips; and with sure haste
    All thy wealth will take at last;
    Only that of which thou mak'st
    Use in time, from Time thou tak'st.


          SONG.

        [De Voiture.]

    I languish in a silent flame:
        For she to whom my vows incline
        Doth own perfections so divine,
    That but to speak were to disclose her name.
    If I should say that she the store                                 5
        Of Nature's graces doth comprise,
        (The love and wonder of all eyes,)
    Who will not guess the Beauty I adore?

    Or though I warily conceal
        The charms her looks and soul possess,                        10
        Should I her cruelty express,
    And say she smiles at all the pains we feel,
    Among such suppliants as implore
        Pity, distributing her hate,
        Inexorable as their fate,--                                   15
    Who will not guess the Beauty I adore?


          APOLLO AND DAPHNE.

            [Marino.]

    When Phoebus saw a rugged bark beguile
      His love, and his embraces intercept,
    The leaves, instructed by his grief to smile,
      Taking fresh growth and verdure as he wept,
    'How can,' saith he, 'my woes expect release,                      5
    When these,[62:1] the subject of my tears, increase?'

    His chang'd yet scorn-retaining Fair he kiss'd,
      From the lov'd trunk plucking a little bough,
    And though the conquest which he sought he miss'd,
      With that triumphant spoil adorns his brow.                     10
    Thus this disdainful maid his aim deceives:
    Where he expected fruit he gathers leaves.


          SONG: TORMENT OF ABSENCE AND DELAY.

            [Montalvan.]

    Torment of absence and delay
      That thus afflicts my memory!
    Why dost thou kill me every day,
      Yet will not give me leave to die?
    Why dost thou suffer me to live                                    5
      All hope of life in life denying,
    Or to my patience tortures give
      Never to die, yet ever dying?

    To fair Narcissa's brighter eyes
      I was by Love's instruction guided,                             10
    (A happiness I long did prize,)
      But now am from their light divided.
    Favours and gifts my suit obtain'd,
      But envious Fate would now destroy them,
    Which if to lose I only gain'd,                                   15
      What greater pain than to enjoy them?


          A LADY WEEPING.

            [Montalvan.]

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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.

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