To his Mistress

	I
	Why dost thou shade thy lovely face? Oh, why
	Does that eclipsing hand of thine deny
	The sunshine of the sun’s enlivening eye?
	II
	Without thy light, what light remains in me?
5	Thou art my life, my way; my light’s in thee;
	I live, I move, and by thy beams I see.
	III
	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.
	IV
10	My light thou art; without thy glorious sight
	My eyes are darkened with eternal night.
	My love, thou art my way, my life, my sight.
	V
	Thou art my way; I wander if thou fly;
	Thou art my light; if hid, how blind am I.
15	Thou art my Life; if thou withdraw’st, I die.
	VI
	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?
	VII
	If that be all, shine forth and draw thee nigher;
20	Let me be bold and die for my desire:
	A phoenix likes to perish in die fire.
	VIII
	If my puffed light be out, give leave to tine
	My flameless snuff at the bright lamp of thine;
	Ah! What’s thy light the less for lighting mine?
	IX
25	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?
	X
	My path is lost; my wandering step does stray;
	I cannot go nor safely stay;
30	Whom should I seek but thee, my path, my way?
	XI
	And yet thou turn’st thy face away and fliest me,
	And yet I sue for grace, and thou deniest me;
	Speak, art thou angry, love, or triest me?
	XII
	Display those heavenly lamps or tell me why
35	Thou shad’st thy face; perhaps no eye
	Can view their flames and not drop down and die.
	XIII
	Thou art the pilgrim’s path and blind man’s eye,
	The dead man’s life; on thee my hopes rely;
	If I but them remove, I err, I die.
	XIV
40	Dissolve thy sunbeams; close thy wings and stay;
	See, see how I am blind and dead and stray;
	Oh, thou that art my life, my light, my way.
	XV
	Then work thy will; if passion bid me flee,
	My reason shall obey; my wings shall be
45	Stretched out no further than from me to thee.