Flattering Hope, away and leave me, <br />She'll not come, thou dost deceive me; <br />Hark the cock crows, th' envious light <br />Chides away the silent night; <br />Yet she comes not, oh ! how I tire <br />Betwixt cold fear and hot desire. <br /> <br />Here alone enforced to tarry <br />While the tedious minutes marry, <br />And get hours, those days and years, <br />Which I count with sighs and fears <br />Yet she comes not, oh! how I tire <br />Betwixt cold fear and hot desire. <br /> <br />Restless thoughts a while remove <br />Unto the bosom of my love, <br />Let her languish in my pain, <br />Fear and hope, and fear again; <br />Then let her tell me, in love's fire, <br />What torment's like unto desire? <br /> <br />Endless wishing, tedious longing, <br />Hopes and fears together thronging; <br />Rich in dreams, yet poor in waking, <br />Let her be in such a taking: <br />Then let her tell me in love's fire, <br />What torment's like unto desire? <br /> <br />Come then, Love, prevent day's eyeing, <br />My desire would fain be dying: <br />Smother me with breathless kisses, <br />Let me dream no more of blisses; <br />But tell me, which is in Love's fire <br />Best, to enjoy, or to desire?<br /><br />Francis Beaumont<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-sonnet-2/
