Internet Shakespeare Editions

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: Hardy M. Cook
Not Peer Reviewed

The Passionate Pilgrim (Octavo, 1599)


DId not the heauenly Rhetorike of thine eie,
30Gainst whom the world could not hold argumēt,
Perswade my hart to this false periurie:
Vowes for thee broke deserue not punishment.
A woman I forswore: but I will proue
Thou being a Goddesse, I forswore not thee:
35My vow was earthly, thou a heauenly loue,
Thy grace being gainde, cures all disgrace in me.
My vow was breath, and breath a vapor is,
Then thou faire Sun, that on this earth doth shine,
Exhale this vapor vow, in thee it is:
40If broken, then it is no fault of mine.
If by me broke, what foole is not so wise
To breake an Oath, to win a Paradise?