31
Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts
Which I by lacking have supposed dead;
And there reigns Love, and all Love's loving parts,
And all those friends which I thought buried. 4
How many a holy and obsequious tear
Hath dear religious love stol'n from mine eye,
As interest of the dead, which now appear
But things remov'd that hidden in thee lie! 8
Thou art the grave where buried love doth live,
Hung with the trophies of my lovers gone,
Who all their parts of me to thee did give,
That due of many now is thine alone: 12
Their images I lov'd I view in thee,
And thou—all they—hast all the all of me.
32
If thou survive my well-contented day,
When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover,
And shalt by fortune once more re-survey
These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover, 4
Compare them with the bettering of the time,
And though they be outstripp'd by every pen,
Reserve them for my love, not for their rime,
Exceeded by the height of happier men. 8
O, then vouchsafe me but this loving thought:
'Had my friend's Muse grown with this growing age,
A dearer birth than this his love had brought,
To march in ranks of better equipage: 12
But since he died, and poets better prove,
Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love.'
1 endeared: made precious
5 obsequious: dutiful, regardful
6 religious: devoted
7 interest: the right, the due
11 parts of me: claims in me
12 That . . . many: so that which many once deserved
13 Their . . . lov'd: the images of those I loved
1 my well-contented day: the day I shall be well contented with
5 bettering . . . time: better works of later time
7 Reserve: retain
12 better equipage: richer equipment
