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Who did not whet his teeth at him again,

But by a kiss thought to persuade him there;

And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine

Sheath'd unaware the tusk in his soft groin.1116

'Had I been tooth'd like him, I must confess,

With kissing him I should have kill'd him first;

But he is dead, and never did he bless

My youth with his; the more am I accurst.' 1120

With this she falleth in the place she stood,

And stains her face with his congealed blood.

Sho looks upon his lips, and they are pale;

She takes him by the hand, and that is cold; 1124

She whispers in his ears a heavy tale,

As if they heard the woeful words she told;

She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes,

Where, lo! two lamps, burnt out, in darkness lies;

Two glasses where herself herself beheld1129

A thousand times, and now no more reflect;

Their virtue lost, wherein they late excell'd,

And every beauty robb'd of his effect: 1132

'Wonder of time,' quoth she, 'this is my spite,

That, you being dead, the day should yet be light.

'Since thou art dead, lo! here I prophesy,

Sorrow on love hereafter shall attend: 1136

It shall be waited on with jealousy,

Find sweet beginning, but unsavoury end;

Ne'er settled equally, but high or low;

That all love's pleasure shall not match his woe.

'It shall be fickle, false, and full of fraud,1141

Bud and be blasted in a breathing-while;

The bottom poison, and the top o'erstraw'd

With sweets that shall the truest sight beguile: 1144

The strongest body shall it make most weak,

Strike the wise dumb and teach the fool to speak.

'It shall be sparing and too full of riot,

Teaching decrepit age to tread the measures; 1148

The staring ruffian shall it keep in quiet,

Pluck down the rich, enrich the poor with treasures;

It shall be raging mad, and silly mild,

Make the young old, the old become a child. 1152

'It shall suspect where is no cause of fear;

It shall not fear where it should most mistrust;

It shall be merciful, and too severe,

And most deceiving when it seems most just; 1156

Perverse it shall be, where it shows most toward,

Put fear to velour, courage to the coward.

'It shall be cause of war and dire events,

And set dissension 'twixt the son and sire; 1160

Subject and servile to all discontents,

As dry combustious matter is to fire:

Sith in his prime Death doth my love destroy,

They that love best their love shall not enjoy.' 1164

By this, the boy that by her side lay kill'd

Was melted like a vapour from her sight,

And in his blood that on the ground lay spill'd,

A purple flower sprung up, chequer'd with white; 1168

Resembling well his pale cheeks, and the blood

Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood.

She bows her head, the new-sprung flower to smell,

Comparing it to her Adonis' breath;1172

And says within her bosom it shall dwell,

Since he himself is reft from her by death:

She drops the stalk, and in the breach appears

Green dropping sap, which she compares to tears.

'Poor flower,' quoth she, 'this was thy father's guise,

Sweet issue of a more sweet-smelling sire,

For every little grief to wet his eyes:

To grow unto himself was his desire, 1180

And so 'tis shine; but know, it is as good

To wither in my breast as in his blood.

'Here was thy father's bed, here in my breast;

Thou art the next of blood, and 'tis thy right:1184

Lo! in this hollow cradle take thy rest,

My throbbing heart shall rock thee day and night:

There shall not be one minute in an hour

Wherein I will not kiss my sweet love's flower.'

Thus weary of the world, away she hies, 1189

And yokes her silver doves; by whose swift aid

Their mistress, mounted, through the empty skies

In her light chariot quickly is convey'd;1192

Holding their course to Paphos, where their queen

Means to immure herself and not be seen.

THE RAPE OF LUCRECE

This 1594 narrative poem tells the story of the legendary Lucretia. In the previous narrative poem Venus and Adonis Shakespeare had included a dedicatory letter to his patron,