Till thou pay back thy theft, and live to climb
As many years as thou hast snatch'd from Time.

ON SIR J[OHN] S[UCKLING] HIS PICTURE AND
POEMS [1646].[14:1]

Suckling, whose numbers could invite
Alike to wonder and delight,
And with new spirit did inspire
The Thespian scene, and Delphic lyre,
Is thus express'd in either part, 5
Above the humble reach of Art.
Drawn by the pencil, here you find
His form; by his own pen, his mind.

ANSWER [TO "THE UNION," POEM ADDRESSED TO
STANLEY BY HIS FRIEND AND TUTOR, WILLIAM
FAIRFAX].[15:1]

If we are one, dear Friend! why shouldst thou be
At once unequal to thyself and me?
By thy release thou swell'st my debt the more,
And dost but rob thyself to make me poor.
What part can I have in thy luminous cone, 5
What flame, since my love's thine, can call my own,
(The palest star is less the son of night,)
Who but thy borrow'd know no native light?[15:2]
Was't not enough thou freely didst bestow
The Muse, but thou must[15:3] give the laurel too, 10
And twice my aims by thy assistance raise,
Conferring first the merit, then the praise?
But I should do thee greater injury,
Did I believe this praise were meant to me,
Or thought, though thou hast worth enough to spare 15
T'enrich another soul, that mine should share.
Thy Muse, seeming to lend, calls home her fame,
And her due wreath doth, in renouncing, claim.

V. LYRICS PRINTED ONLY IN EDITIONS OF 1647 AND 1657 [GAMBLE].

THE BLUSH.

So fair Aurora doth herself discover
(Asham'd o' th' aged bed of her cold lover,)
In modest blushes, whilst the treacherous light
Betrays her early shame to the world's sight.
Such a bright colour doth the morning rose 5
Diffuse, when she her soft self doth disclose
Half drown'd in dew, whilst on each leaf a tear
Of night doth like a dissolv'd pearl appear;
Yet 'twere in vain a colour out to seek
To parallel my Chariessa's cheek; 10
Less are compar'd[16:1] with greater, and these seem
To blush like her, not she to blush like them.
But whence, fair soul, this passion? what pretence
Had guilt to stain thy spotless in