SIR WALTER RALEIGH.
CONCEIPT BEGOTTEN BY THE EYES.
[Poetical Rhapsody]
Conceipt begotten by the eyes,
Is quickly born and quickly dies;
For while it seeks our hearts to have
Meanwhile there REASON makes his grave.
For many things the eyes approve,
Which yet the heart doth seldom love.
For as the seeds in springtime sown,
Die in the ground ere they be grown;
Such is CONCEIPT, whose rooting fails,
As child that in the cradle quails;
Or else within the mother's womb,
Hath his beginning and his tomb.
AFFECTION follows Fortune's wheels,
And soon is shaken from her heels:
For following beauty or estate,
Her liking still is turned to hate.
For all affections have their change,
And FANCY only loves to range.
DESIRE himself runs out of breath,
And getting, does but gain his death:
DESIRE, nor reason hath, nor rest,
And blind doth seldom choose the best
DESIRE attained is not desire,
But as the cinders of the fire.
