justly seek 10
Redress from thee, and thou mightst save
Thousands of lovers from the grave.
But such assaults are vain, for she
Is too divine to stoop to thee,
Blest with a form as much too high 15
For any change, as[28:5] Destiny,
Which no attempt can violate:
For what's her beauty is our fate.

TO CELIA.

EXCUSE FOR WISHING HER LESS FAIR.[29:1]

Why thy passion should it move
That I wished thy beauty less?
Fools desire what is above
Power of nature to express;
And to wish it had been more 5
Had been to outwish her store.

If the flames within thine eye
Did not too great heat inspire,
Men might languish, yet not die, }[29:2]
At thy less ungentle fire, } 10
And might on thy weaker light
Gaze, and yet not lose their sight.

Nor wouldst thou less fair appear,
For detraction adds to thee;
If some parts less beauteous were, 15
Others would much fairer be;
Nor can any part we know
Best be styl'd, when all are so.

Thus this great excess of light,
Which now dazzles our weak eyes, 20
Would, eclips'd, appear more bright;
And the only way to rise,
Or to be more fair, for[29:3] thee,
Celia! is less fair to be.

CELIA, SLEEPING OR SINGING.[30:1]

Roses, in breathing forth their scent,
Or stars their borrowed ornament;
Nymphs in the watery sphere that move,
Or angels in their orbs above;
The winged chariot of the light, 5
Or the slow silent wheels of night;
The shade which from the swifter sun
Doth in a circular motion run,
Or souls that their eternal rest do keep,
Make far more[30:2] noise than Celia's breath in sleep. 10

But if the angel which inspires
This subtle frame[30:3] with active fires,
Should mould this[30:4] breath to words, and those
Into a harmony dispose,
The music of this heavenly sphere 15
Would steal each soul out at the ear,
And into plants and stones infuse
A life that cherubim[30:5] would choose,
And with new powers[30:6] invert the laws of fate:
Kill those that live, and dead