LOVE AND PITY

You have discoloured, Death, the loveliest face

That ever was, and quenched the loveliest eyes;

Forcing the locks and breaking all the ties

Of a keen soul in a most lovely case.

An instant all my good doth blast: O base!

On those soft lips your heavy finger lies,

That spoke so sweet, and you endure my cries.

I wander blind with tears from place to place.

’Tis true my Lady comes to help me, then,

When Love and Pity lead her by the hand:

No other succour holdeth life for me.

And if her speech and if her gesture grand

I could impart, I would transform not men,

But tigers, bears, and monsters of the sea.