Читать книгу Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham - Edmund Waller - Страница 21

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No wonder sleep from careful lovers flies,

To bathe himself in Saccharissa's eyes.

As fair Astraæ once from earth to heaven,

By strife and loud impiety was driven;

So with our plaints offended, and our tears,

Wise Somnus to that paradise repairs;

Waits on her will, and wretches does forsake,

To court the nymph for whom those wretches wake.

More proud than Phoebus of his throne of gold 9

Is the soft god those softer limbs to hold;

Nor would exchange with Jove, to hide the skies

In dark'ning clouds, the power to close her eyes;

Eyes which so far all other lights control,

They warm our mortal parts, but these our soul!

Let her free spirit, whose unconquer'd breast

Holds such deep quiet and untroubled rest,

Know that though Venus and her son should spare

Her rebel heart, and never teach her care,

Yet Hymen may in force his vigils keep,

And for another's joy suspend her sleep. 20

[1] She is said to have been like Dudu—

'Large, and languishing, and lazy,

Yet of a beauty that might drive you crazy.'