A Solitary Discourse | Amplified Edition

How canst thou heavy be now she1
 appears,
My pensive soul, that with her luster cheers
All drooping spirits? Lift up thy sad eyes;
Behold how horrid darkness from her flies.
Do thou but look how at the sight of day,
With sable wings she scowling flies away;
Look how Aurora with her orient light2
Doth scorn and trample melancholy Night3
.
Nay, pale-faced Cynthia with her glittering train4
Hide all away for fear of her disdain.
But yet (alas) what comfort’s in this light
That is alternately pursued by night?
Instead of bringing of my soul relief,
It doth successively renew my grief.
There is no cheerful light below the skies,
Nor can we see till we lose our eyes.
Did I not hope my soul’s of heavenly birth?
Let me be nothing if I debreathe5
 on Earth;
But on condition of eternal glory,
I am contented with my life’s sad story.
For shame, my soul, leave this base discontent,
And cheerly look up to the firmament6
:
See how Aurora sprinkles dewlike pearls7
On Ceres’ corn gathered by rural girls
To wash the freckles from their lovely face
That in their lovers’ eyes they may find grace.
Alas, what beauty, with such care up-nursed,
When sickness age and grief (of all the worst)
Have acted all their parts? Then comes pale Death
And closes up their eyes and stops their breath;
How empty and how vain is carnal love
Compared but with a glimpse of joys above.
I was in youth a modest virgin bred,
And brought with honor to my nuptial bed,
To a most lovely youth, and nobly born;
Virtue and beauty did his youth adorn.
Our music then had sweet and pleasant closes8
;
Crowned were our heads with myrtle and with roses9
,
Which to this hour are flowery, fresh and green,
Though cypress buds10
 were here and there between
Stuck in by adverse fate to cool our love;
Or else that we should place our thoughts above,
Where only is true11
 love and lasting peace.
That love shall last when faith and hope shall cease.
From heaven, my soul, from heaven thy comfort springs;
For earth (alas) nought but affliction brings.
Look up once more; here’s that thy heart will ease,
Or surely nothing will thy fancy please.
Mark how Apollo12
, this salubrious morning,
With dazzling beams his splendent face adorning,
Comes glittering forth in most refulgent grace,
Joying to run his occidental race13
,
Scorning his eyes should take a slumbering nap
Until he lays in wanton Thetis’ lap,
His flagrant head then she in love belaves,
His burning tresses with her cooler waves;
And that sweet dew on flowers redolent
Which breathes to us an aromatic scent,
He with his heat exhales above our view
Which doth nocturnally descend in dew.
See how the solsequium14
 thrusts her head
Up through the center from that common bed
Into the liquid azure sea above her
To follow Phoebus15
 her admired lover.
When he in our horizon gives his race,
Then in the air she shows her lovely face;
So when he is our zenith at midday,
She at full length her beauty doth display.
But when the sun is nadir to us here,
She meets him in the other hemisphere.
To see these marvels and this shining lamp
Dazzles mine eyes and doth my spirit damp:
For when I do his orient16
 splendor see
It more discovers my deformity.
If I but look upon his blazing beauty,
He burns me black17
 for failing so in duty;
But if in innocence I had stood upright,
Nor sun nor moon should hurt me day or night.
But I (ay me) in Adam fell from glory,
Which makes me live a life most transitory18
.
Then those celestial orbs that shine so bright,
Should fellows be and further our delight19
.
Happy should be their influence and dances,
Both their full-eyed aspects and secret glances.
Then unto them I should be independent,
Nor need I fear, though Saturn’s my ascendant20
.
But now I’m troubled, ready still to cry,
’Cause at my birth some planet looked awry21
,
Forgetting him that them and me did make,
Who of his children constant care doth take.
And those celestial works of wonder,
He knows their names, natures, and number,
Their turning and their constant stations,
And every influence of those constellations.
In God, my soul, trust ever and depend;
So shalt thou live a life that ne’er shall end.
Nor be thou hopeless when thy body’s crumbled,
And with all creatures in this mass is jumbled;
But at thy death sing cheerfully a requiem22
,
For thou with joy shall like the solsequium
Meet thy redeemer in a horoscope23
Brighter than this. Thy flesh shall rest in hope,
And thou shalt see thy saviour with these eyes,
When that bright sun of righteousness shall rise.
With healing wings he shall from my sad eyes
And from all faces else wipe off the tears;
So from all hearts he will dispel all fears.
Oh then (till then) send grace24
 into my heart,
Which from my throbbing bosom ne’er shall part;
But I’ll improve’t, my few and evil days,
Until it doth exhale in thanks and praise.

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