---

John Wilmot - To His Mistress
Work rating: Medium

Why dost thou shade thy lovely face? O why
Does that eclipsing hand of thine deny
The sunshine of the Sun`s enlivening eye? 

Without thy light what light remains in me?
Thou art my life; my way, my light`s in thee; 
I live, I move, and by thy beams I see. 

Thou art my life-if thou but turn away
My life`s a thousand deaths. Thou art my way-
Without.thee, Love, I travel not but stray. 

My light thou art-without thy glorious sight
My eyes are darken`d with eternal night.
My Love, thou art my way, my life, my light. 

Thou art my way; I wander if thou fly.
Thou art my light; if hid, how blind am I!
Thou art my life; if thou withdraw`st, I die. 

My eyes are dark and blind, I cannot see:
To whom or whither should my darkness flee,
But to that light?-and who`s that light but thee? 

If I have lost my path, dear lover, say,
Shall I still wander in a doubtful way? 
Love, shall a lamb of Israel`s sheepfold stray? 

My path is lost, my wandering steps do stray;
I cannot go, nor can I safely stay;
Whom should I seek but thee, my path, my way? 

And yet thou turn`st thy face away and fly`st me!
And yet I sue for grace and thou deny`st me!
Speak, art thou angry, Love, or only try`st me? 

Thou art the pilgrim`s path, the blind man`s eye,
The dead man`s life. On thee my hopes rely:
If I but them remove, I surely die. 

Dissolve thy sunbeams, close thy wings and stay!
See, see how I am blind, and dead, and stray!
-O thou art my life, my light, my way! 

Then work thy will! If passion bid me flee,
My reason shall obey, my wings shall be
Stretch`d out no farther than from me to thee!
Source
The script ran 0.001 seconds.