Jonson. A Celebration of Charis. III. What he Suffered.

Ben Jonson

A CELEBRATION OF CHARIS
IN TEN LYRIC PIECES

III

What he Suffered

After many scorns like these,
Which the prouder beauties please ;
She content was to restore
Eyes and limbs, to hurt me more,
And would, on conditions, be
Reconcil'd to Love, and me.
First, that I must kneeling yield
Both the bow, and shaft I held
Unto her ; which Love might take
At her hand, with oath to make
Me the scope of his next draught,
Aimèd with that self-same shaft.
He no sooner heard the law,
But the arrow home did draw,
And (to gain her by his art)
Left it sticking in my heart :
Which when she beheld to bleed,
She repented of the deed,
And would fain have chang'd the fate,
But the pity comes too late.
Loser-like, now, all my wreak
Is, that I have leave to speak ;
And in either prose or song,
To revenge me with my tongue ;
Which how dexterously I do,
Hear and make example too.

Source:
The Songs and Poems of Ben Jonson.
London: Philip Allan & Co., 1924. 22.

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