Thomas Watson

from Thomas Watson’s Hecatompathia:

Passion XL

I joy not peace, where yet no war is found;

I fear, and hope; I burn, yet freeze withal;

I mount to heav’n, yet lie but on the ground;

I compass nought, and yet I compass all:

  I live her bond, which neither is my foe,

  Nor friend; nor holds me fast, nor lets me go;

Love will not that I live, nor lets me die;

Nor locks me fast, nor suffers me to scape;

I want both eyes and tongue, yet see and cry;

I wish for death, yet after help I gape;

  I hate myself, but love another wight;

  And feed on grief, in lieu of sweet delight;

At selfsame time I both lament and joy;

I still am pleas’d, and yet displeased still;

Love sometimes seems a God, sometimes a Boy;

Sometimes I sink, sometimes I swim at will;

  Twixt death and life, small difference I make;

  All this dear Dame befalls me for thy sake.