34
COMUS
For who would rob a Hermit of his Weeds,
His few Books, or his Beads, or Maple Dish,
Or do his gray hairs any violence?
But beauty, like the fair Hesperian Tree
Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard
Of dragon watch with uninchanted eye,
To save her blossoms and defend her fruit
From the rash hand of bold Incontinence.
You may as well spred out the unsun’d heaps
Of Misers treasure by an out-laws den,
And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope
Danger will wink on Opportunity,
And let a single helpless maiden pass
Uninjur’d in this wilde surrounding wast.
Of night or lonelines it recks me not;
I fear the dred events that dog them both,
Lest som ill greeting touch attempt the person
Of our unowned sister.
His few Books, or his Beads, or Maple Dish,
Or do his gray hairs any violence?
But beauty, like the fair Hesperian Tree
Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard
Of dragon watch with uninchanted eye,
To save her blossoms and defend her fruit
From the rash hand of bold Incontinence.
You may as well spred out the unsun’d heaps
Of Misers treasure by an out-laws den,
And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope
Danger will wink on Opportunity,
And let a single helpless maiden pass
Uninjur’d in this wilde surrounding wast.
Of night or lonelines it recks me not;
I fear the dred events that dog them both,
Lest som ill greeting touch attempt the person
Of our unowned sister.
Elder Brother
I do not, brother,
Inferr as if I thought my sisters state
Secure without all doubt or controversie:
Yet, where an equall poise of hope and fear
Does arbitrate th’event, my nature is
Inferr as if I thought my sisters state
Secure without all doubt or controversie:
Yet, where an equall poise of hope and fear
Does arbitrate th’event, my nature is
