Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. I. Early Poetry: Chaucer to Donne
Thomas Watson (15551592)Extracts from The Hecatompathia: Passion XL
I
I fear, and hope; I burn, yet freeze withal;
I mount to heav’n, yet lie but on the ground;
I compass nought, and yet I compass all:
I live her bond, which neither is my foe,
Nor friend; nor holds me fast, nor lets me go;
Love will not that I live, nor lets me die;
Nor locks me fast, nor suffers me to scape;
I want both eyes and tongue, yet see and cry;
I wish for death, yet after help I gape;
I hate myself, but love another wight;
And feed on grief, in lieu of sweet delight;
At selfsame time I both lament and joy;
I still am pleas’d, and yet displeased still;
Love sometimes seems a God, sometimes a Boy;
Sometimes I sink, sometimes I swim at will;
Twixt death and life, small difference I make;
All this dear Dame befalls me for thy sake.