Love
Fair Face and Hard Heart
From A Poetical Rhapsody (1602), ed. A. H. Bullen (1890–91)
Fair is thy face, and that thou know'st too well,
Hard is thy heart, and that thou wilt not know
Thou hear'st and smil'st, when I thy praises tell;
But stop'st thine ears when I my grief would show:
Yet though in vain, needs must I speak,
Or else my swelling heart would break.
And when I speak, my breath doth blow the fire,
With which my burning heart consumes away;
I call upon thy name, and help require,
Thy dearest name, which doth me still betray:
For grace, sweet Grace, thy name doth sound,
Yet ah! in thee no grace is found.
Alas, to what part shall I then appeal?
Thy face so fair disdains to look on me;
Thy tongue commands my heart his grief conceal;
Thy nimble feet from me do always flee;
Thine eyes cast fire to burn my heart,
And thou rejoicest in my smart.
Then, since thou seest the life I lead in pain,
And that for thee I suffer all this grief;
Oh let my heart this small request obtain,
That thou agree it pine without relief!
I ask not love, for my good will,
But leave that I may love thee still.
Codex Note
Credited to "A. W." in Francis Davison's own manuscript list (Bullen prints the initials in square brackets).
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Elizabethan miscellanies). “Fair Face and Hard Heart.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-miscellanies/77/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Elizabethan miscellanies). “Fair Face and Hard Heart.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-miscellanies/77/.
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