That can empierce a prince's mighty heart.
There also is (ah no, he is not now!)
But since I said he is, he quite is gone,
Amyntas quite is gone and lies full low,
Having his Amaryllis left to moan.
Help, O ye shepherds, help ye all in this,
Help Amaryllis this her loss to mourn:
Her loss is yours, your loss Amyntas is,
Amyntas, flower of shepherds' pride forlorn :
He whilst he lived was the noblest swain
That ever pipèd on an oaten quill :
Both did he other, which could pipe, maintain,
And eke could pipe himself with passing skill.
And there, though last not least, is Ætion;
A gentler shepherd may no where be found :
Whose Muse, full of high thoughts' invention,
Doth like himself heroically sound.
All these, and many others mo remain,
Now, after Astrofell is dead and gone :
But, while as Astrofell did live and reign,
Amongst all these was none his paragon.
All these do flourish in their sundry kind,
And do their Cynthia immortal make:
Yet found I liking in her royal mind,
Not for my skill, but for that shepherd's sake."
From The Ruins of Time. [1591
YET will I sing; but who can better sing
Than thou thy self, thine own self's valiance,
That, while thou livedst, madest the forests ring,
And fields resound, and flocks to leap and dance,
And shepherds leave their lambs unto mischance,
To run thy shrill Arcadian pipe to hear :
O happy were those days, thrice happy were!
But now more happy thou, and wretched we,
Which want the wonted sweetness of thy voice,
Whiles thou now in Elysian fields so free,
With Orpheus, and with Linus, and the choice
Of all that ever did in rimes rejoice,
Conversest, and dost hear their heavenly lays,
And they hear thine, and thine do better praise.
So there thou livest, singing evermore,
And here thou livest, being ever song
Of us, which living loved thee afore,
And now thee worship 'mongst that blessed throng
Of heavenly Poets and Heroës strong.
So thou both here and there immortal art,
And everywhere through excellent desart.
From L'Envoy to the Ruins of Time.
IMMORTAL spirit of Philisides,
Which now art made the heavens' ornament,
That whilome wast the worldës chief'st richés ;
Give leave to him that loved thee to lament
His loss, by lack of thee to heaven hent,
And with last duties of this broken verse,
Broken with sighs, to deck thy sable hearse!
From Astrophel.
A GENTLE shepherd born in Arcady,
Of gentlest race that ever shepherd bore,
About the grassy banks of Hæmony
Did keep his sheep, his little stock and store.
Full carefully he kept them day and night,
In fairest fields; and Astrophel he hight.
Young Astrophel, the pride of shepherd's praise,
Young Astrophel, the rustic lasses' love:
Far passing all the pastors of his days
In all that seemly shepherd might behove.
In one thing only failing of the best,
That he was not so happy as the rest.
For from the time that first the nymph his mother
Him forth did bring, and taught her lambs to feed ;
A slender swain, excelling far each other,
In comely shape, like her that did him breed,
He grew up fast in goodness and in grace,
And doubly fair woxe both in mind and face.
Which daily more and more he did augment,
With gentle usage and demeanour mild :
That all men's hearts with secret ravishment
He stole away, and weetingly beguiled.
Ne spite itself, that all good things doth spill,
Found ought in him, that she could say was ill.
His sports were fair, his joyance innocent,
Sweet without sour, and honey without gall;
And he himself seem'd made for merriment,
Merrily masking both in bower and hall.
There was no pleasure nor delightful play,
When Astrophel so ever was away.
For he could pipe, and dance, and carol sweet,
Amongst the shepherds in their shearing feast;
As summer's lark that with her song doth greet
The dawning day forth coming from the East.
And lays of love he also could compose:
Thrice happy she, whom he to praise did chose.
Full many maidens often did him woo,
Them to vouchsafe amongst his rimes to name,
Or make for them as he was wont to do
For her that did his heart with love inflame.
For which they promised to dight for him
Gay chapelets of flowers and garlands trim.
And many a nymph both of the wood and brook,
Soon as his oaten pipe began to shrill,
Both crystal wells and shady groves forsook,
To hear the charms of his enchanting skill;
And brought him presents, flowers if it were prime,
Or mellow fruit if it were harvest time.
But he for none of them did care a whit,
Yet woodgods for them often sighèd sore ;
Ne for their gifts unworthy of his wit,
Yet not unworthy of the country's store.
For one alone he cared, for one he sigh't,
His life's desire, and his dear love's delight.
Stella the fair, the fairest star in sky,
As fair as Venus or the fairest fair,
(A fairer star saw never living eye),
Shot her sharp-pointed beams through purest air.
Her he did love, her he alone did honour,
His thoughts, his rimes, his songs were all upon
To her he vow'd the service of his days,
On her he spent the riches of his wit:
For her he made hymns of immortal praise,
Of only her he sung, he thought, he writ.
Her, and but her, of love he worthy deem'd ;
For all the rest but little he esteem'd.
Ne her with idle words alone he woo'd,
And verses vain, (yet verses are not vain),
But with brave deeds to her sole service vow'd,
And bold achievements he did entertain.
For both in words and deeds he nurtured was,
Both wise and hardy, (too hardy, alas !).
In wrestling nimble, and in running swift,
In shooting steady, and in swimming strong;
Well made to strike, to throw, to leap, to lift,
And all the sports that shepherds are among,
In every one he vanquish'd every one,
He vanquish'd all, and vanquish'd was of none.
To Sir Walter Raleigh.
To thee, that art the summer's nightingale,
Thy sovereign goddess' most dear delight,
Why do I send this rustic madrigale
That may thy tuneful ear unseason quite ?
Thou only fit this argument to write,
In whose high thoughts Pleasure hath built her bower,
And dainty Love learn'd sweetly to endite.
My rimes I know unsavoury and sour,
To taste the streams that, like a golden shower,
Flow from thy fruitful head of thy Love's praise;
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