Ice and Fire

NAKED Love did to thine eye,

Chloris, once to warm him, fly;

But its subtle flame, and light,

Scorch'd his wings, and spoil'd his sight.

Forc'd from thence he went to rest

In the soft couch of thy breast:

But there met a frost so great,

As his torch extinguish'd straight.

When poor Cupid, thus (constrain'd

His cold bed to leave) complain'd,

"'Las! what lodging'd here for me,

If all ice and fire she be."

Sir Edward Sherburne

Love's Arithmetic

BY a gentle river laid,

Thirsis to his Phillis said,

"Equal to these sandy grains,

Is the number of my pains:

And the drops within their bounds

Speak the sum of all my wounds."

Phillis, who like passion burns,

Thirsis answer thus returns:

"Many, as the Earth hath leaves,

Are the griefs my heart receives;

And the stars, which Heaven inspires,

Reckon my consuming fires."

Then the shepherd, in the pride

Of his happy love, replied:

"With the choristers of air

Shall our numerous joys compare;

And our mutual pleasures vie

With the Cupids in thine eye."

Thus the willing shepherdess

Did her ready love express:

"In delights our pains shall cease,

And our war be cur'd by peace;

We shall count our griefs with blisses,

Thousand torments, thousand kisses."

Sir Edward Sherburne