Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptered sway;
It is enthroned in the heart of kings;
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice.
Youth is full of pleasance,Age is full of care;Youth like summer morn,Age like winter weather;Youth like summer brave,Age like winter bare:Youth is full of sports,Age’s breath is short,Youth is nimble, Age is lame:Youth is hot and bold,Age is weak and cold,Youth is wild, and Age is tame:-Age, I do abhor thee;Youth, I do adore thee;O!…
May still seem love to me, though altered new;Thy looks with me, thy heart in other place:For there can live no hatred in thine eye,Therefore in that I cannot know thy change.In many’s looks, the false heart’s historyIs writ in moods, and frowns, and wrinkles strange.But heaven in thy creation did decreeThat in thy face…
Thy bosom is endearèd with all hearts,Which I by lacking have supposèd dead,And there reigns love and all love’s loving parts,And all those friends which I thought burièd.How many a holy and obsequious tearHath dear religious love stol’n from mine eyeAs interest of the dead, which now appearBut things removed that hidden in thee lie!Thou…
From fairest creatures we desire increase,That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,But as the riper should by time decease,His tender heir might bear his memory;But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel,Making a famine where abundance lies,Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.Thou that art now the…
The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing;My bonds in thee are all determinate.For how do I hold thee but by thy granting?And for that riches where is my deserving?The cause of this fair gift in me is wanting,And so my patent back again is swerving.Thyself thou gav’st, thy own worth then not knowing,Or me,…
But then begins a journey in my head,To work my mind, when body’s work’s expired:For then my thoughts, from far where I abide,Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,Looking on darkness which the blind do seeSave that my soul’s imaginary sightPresents thy shadow to my sightless view,Which, like a jewel…
