Emblem I.39: Where strong Desires are entertain'd

Where strong Desires are entertain'd,
The Heart 'twixt Hope, and Feare, is pain'd.

A Troubled Minde, ore-charged with Desires,
Betweene great Hopes, and no lesse Feares opprest,
And payned inwardly with secret Fires,
Was thus, by some, in former times exprest.
A Smoking Heart, they placed just betwixt
A Fastned Anchor, and a Bended Bow;
To which a Barbed-Arrow seemed fixt,
And, ready from the Strayned-String to goe.
The Smoke doth Sighes, the Anchor doth declare
That Hope, which keepes us from Despairing quite;
The Bowe and Arrow, signifie that Feare,
Which doth, perpetually, the Soule affright.
And, by this Emblem, it appeares to me
That they which are with strong Desires opprest,
(Though good or bad the Object of them be)
In seeking Pleasures, finde no small unrest:
For, they are not by Feares, alone, disturbed,
But, as the Wiseman saith, ev'n Hope-Delayd
Torments the Heart; and, when Desire is curbed,
The Soule becommeth sad, and ill-apayd.
A Groundlesse-Hope, makes entrance for Despaire,
And with Deceiving showes the Heart betrayes:
A Causelesse-Feare, doth Reasons force impaire,
And, terrifies the Soule, in doubtfull wayes.
Yet, quite neglect them not; For, Hope repells
That Griefe sometimes, which would our Hearts oppresse.
And, Feare is otherwhile the Sentinell
Which rouzeth us from dang'rous Carelesnesse.
Thus, Both are good: but, Both are Plagues to such,
Who either Fondly feare, or Hope too much.