Have lost their safety of the plain, The now confounded shepherd cries, How did you make that voice so sweet Are souls on earth than heav'n more kind? Imprisoned in mortality, Lucasta would have answer'd me. Lucasta, Aramantha said, Is she, that virgin-star, a maid, In beauty poor, and cheap as I? Or aëry apparition, Admir'd awhile, but slighted known. Fierce, as the chased lion hies, So our exposing desp'rate lover Far'd, when amaz'd he did discover Lucasta in this nymph, his sin Darts the accurs'd javelin 'Gainst his own breast, which she puts by With a soft lip and gentle eye, Then closes with him on the ground; And now her smiles have heal'd his wound, Alexis too again is found: But not until those heavy crimes She hath kiss'd off a thousand times, Who not contented with this pain Doth threaten to offend again. And now they gaze, and sigh, and weep, Whilst each cheek doth the other's steep, Whilst tongues as exorcis'd are calm; Only the rhetoric of the palm They chain'd in one another fast: Her various chance and diff'ring fate: Since seeking thus the remedy, They fancy (building on false ground) The means must them and it confound, And win a little or lose all. From this sad storm of fire and blood She fled to this yet living wood; Where she 'mongst savage beasts doth find Herself more safe than humankind. Then she relates how CELIA The lady here strips her array, And girdles her in homespun baize, Now walks she to her bower to dine Under a shade of eglantine Upon a dish of nature's cheer, Which both grew dress'd, and serv'd up there: Then wagers which hath most content Intranc'd ALEXIS sees and hears, So that which to his thoughts he meant His arms hung up, and his sword broke, Himself unto the humble crook: And for a full reward of all, She now doth him her shepherd call, And in a SEA of flow'rs install: Then gives her faith immediately, Both vowing in her peaceful cave But the true joy this pair conceiv'd Each from the other first bereav'd; And then found after such alarms Fast pinion'd in each other's arms: Ye panting virgins that do meet Your loves within their winding-sheet, Breathing and constant still ev'n there; Or souls their bodies in yon sphere; Or angels men return'd from hell, And separated minds can tell. |