117
Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all
Wherein I should your great deserts repay,
Forgot upon your dearest love to call,
Whereto all bonds do tie me day by day; 4
That I have frequent been with unknown minds,
And given to time your own dear-purchas'd right;
That I have hoisted sail to all the winds
Which should transport me furthest from your sight. 8
Book both my wilfulness and errors down,
And on just proof surmise accumulate;
Bring me within the level of your frown,
But shoot not at me in your waken'd hate; 12
Since my appeal says I did strive to prove
The constancy and virtue of your love.
118
Like as, to make our appetites more keen,
With eager compounds we our palate urge;
As, to prevent our maladies unseen,
We sicken to shun sickness when we purge; 4
Even so, being full of your ne'er-cloying sweetness,
To bitter sauces did I frame my feeding;
And, sick of welfare, found a kind of meetness
To be diseas'd, ere that there was true needing. 8
Thus policy in love, to anticipate
The ills that were not, grew to faults assur'd,
And brought to medicine a healthful state,
Which, rank of goodness, would by ill be cur'd; 12
But thence I learn, and find the lesson true,
Drugs poison him that so fell sick of you.
1 scanted: grudged
5 frequent: intimate
unknown: unimportant
6 given to time: wasted
10 on . . . accumulate: add suspected to proved offences
11 level: aim
1 Like as: just as
2 eager compounds: bitter mixtures
palate urge: stimulate the appetite
7 welfare: good health
12 rank of: cloyed with
