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I. MY name engraved herein | |
| Doth contribute my firmness to this glass, | |
| Which ever since that charm hath been | |
| As hard, as that which graved it was; | |
| Thine eye will give it price enough, to mock | 5 |
| The diamonds of either rock. | |
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II. ’Tis much that glass should be | |
| As all-confessing, and through-shine as I; | |
| ’Tis more that it shows thee to thee, | |
| And clear reflects thee to thine eye. | 10 |
| But all such rules love’s magic can undo; | |
| Here you see me, and I am you. 1 | |
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III. As no one point, nor dash, | |
| Which are but accessories to this name, | |
| The showers and tempests can outwash | 15 |
| So shall all times find me the same; | |
| You this entireness better may fulfill, | |
| Who have the pattern with you still. | |
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IV. Or if too hard and deep | |
| This learning be, for a scratch’d name to teach, | 20 |
| It as a given death’s head keep, | |
| Lovers’ mortality to preach; | |
| Or think this ragged bony name to be | |
| My ruinous anatomy. | |
| |
V. Then, as all my souls be | 25 |
| Emparadised in you—in whom alone | |
| I understand, and grow, and see— | |
| The rafters of my body, bone, | |
| Being still with you, the muscle, sinew, and vein | |
| Which tile this house, will come again. | 30 |
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VI. Till my return repair | |
| And recompact my scatter’d body so, | |
| As all the virtuous powers which are | |
| Fix’d in the stars are said to flow | |
| Into such characters as gravèd be | 35 |
| When these stars have 2 supremacy. | |
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VII. So since this name was cut, | |
| When love and grief their exaltation had, | |
| No door ’gainst this name’s influence shut. | |
| As much more loving, as more sad, | 40 |
| ’Twill make thee; and thou shouldst, till I return, | |
| Since I die daily, daily mourn. | |
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VIII. When thy inconsiderate hand | |
| Flings ope this casement, with my trembling name, | |
| To look on one, whose wit or land | 45 |
| New battery to thy heart may frame, | |
| Then think this name alive, and that thou thus | |
| In it offend’st 3 my Genius. | |
| |
IX. And when thy melted maid, | |
| Corrupted by thy lover’s gold and page, 4 | 50 |
| His letter at thy pillow hath laid, | |
| Disputed it, and tamed thy rage, 5 | |
| And thou begin’st to thaw towards him, 6 for this, | |
| May my name step in, and hide his. | |
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X. And if this treason go | 55 |
| To an overt act and that thou write again, | |
| In superscribing, this 7 name flow | |
| Into thy fancy from the pane; 8 | |
| So, in forgetting thou rememb’rest right, | |
| And unaware to me shalt write. | 60 |
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XI. But glass and lines must be | |
| No means our firm substantial love to keep; | |
| Near death inflicts this lethargy, | |
| And this 9 I murmur in my sleep; | |
| Impute this idle talk, to that I go, | 65 |
| For dying men talk often so. | |
