UNLESS there were consent 'twixt hell and heaven That grace and wickedness should be combined, I cannot make thee and thy beauties even: Thy face is heaven, and torture in thy mind, For more than worldly bliss is in thy eye And hellish torture in thy mind doth lie. A thousand Cherubims fly in her looks, And hearts in legions melt upon their view: But gorgeous covers wall up filthy books; Be it sin to say, that so your eyes do you: But sure your mind adheres not with your eyes, For what they promise, that your heart denies. But, O, lest I religion should misuse, Inspire me thou, that ought'st thyself to know (Since skilless readers reading do abuse), What inward meaning outward sense doth show: For by thy eyes and heart, chose and contemned. I waver, whether saved or condemned. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MARCH INTO VIRGINIA by HERMAN MELVILLE SEA UNICORNS AND LAND UNICORNS by MARIANNE MOORE LOVE DISSEMBLED, FR. AS YOU LIKE IT by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE DARK FOREST by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS THE RIGHT MARY by CLARIBEL WEEKS AVERY AT THE LAST by RICHARD DODDRIDGE BLACKMORE ASPIRATIONS: 1 by MATHILDE BLIND |