Fain would I my love disclose

Fain would I my love disclose,
Ask what honour might deny;
But both love and her I lose,
From my motion if she fly.
Worse than pain is fear to me:
Then hold in fancy though it burn!
If not happy, safe I'll be,
And to my cloistered cares return.

Yet, O yet, in vain I strive
To repress my schooled desire;
More and more the flames revive,
I consume in mine own fire.
She would pity, might she know
The harms that I for her endure:
Speak then, and get comfort so;
A wound long hid grows past recure.

Wise she is, and needs must know
All th' attempts that beauty moves:
Fair she is, and honoured so
That she, sure, hath tried some loves.
If with love I tempt her then,
'Tis but her due to be desired:
What would women think of men
If their deserts were not admired?

Women, courted, have the hand
To discard what they distaste:
But those dames whom none demand
Want oft what their wills embraced.
Could their firmness iron excel,
As they are fair, they should be sought:
When true thieves use falsehood well,
As they are wise they will be caught.