Page:Shakespeare Collection of Poems.djvu/84

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72
The Rape of Lucrece.
So, so, quoth he, these lets attend the time,
Like little frosts that sometime threat the spring.
To add a more rejoicing to the prime,
And give the sneaped birds more cause to sing;
Paine pays the income of each precious thing.
Huge rocks, high winds, strong pyrats, shelves and sands,
The merchant fears, e're rich at home he lands.

Now is he come unto the chamber door,
That shuts him from the heaven of his thought,
Which with a yielding latch, and with no more,
Hath bar'd him from the blessed thing he sought,
So from himself impiety hath wrought,
That for his Prey to pray he doth begin,
As if the heavens should countenance his sin.

But in the midst of his unfruitful prayer,
Having sollicited th' eternal power,
That his foul thoughts might compass his fair Fair,
And they would stand auspicious to the hour,
Even there he starts, quoth he, I must deflower:
The powers to whom I pray, abhor this fact,
How can they then assist me in the act?

Then Love and Fortune be my gods, my guide,
My will is backt with resolution;
Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried,
Black sin is clear'd with absolution,
Against loves fire, fears frost hath dissolution.

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