Internet Shakespeare Editions

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: Erin Sadlack
Not Peer Reviewed

Romeo and Juliet (Modern, Quarto 2)

[Scene 10/II.v]
Enter Friar and Romeo.
Friar Laurence
So smile the heavens upon this holy act,
That, after-hours, with sorrow chide us not.
Amen, amen, but come what sorrow can,
It cannot countervail the exchange of joy
That one short minute gives me in her sight.
Do thou but close our hands with holy words,
Then love-devouring death do what he dare.
1400It is enough I may but call her mine.
Friar Laurence
These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
1405And in the taste confounds the appetite.
Therefore love moderately; long love doth so.
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.
Enter Juliet.
Here comes the lady. O, so light a foot
1410Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint.
A lover may bestride the gossamers
That idles in the wanton summer air
And yet not fall, so light is vanity.
Good even to my ghostly confessor.
1415Friar Laurence
Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both.
As much to him, else is his thanks too much.
Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy
Be heaped like mine, and that thy skill be more
To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath
1420This neighbor air, and let rich music's tongue
Unfold the imagined happiness that both
Receive in either by this dear encounter.
Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,
Brags of his substance, not of ornament.
1425They are but beggars that can count their worth,
But my true love is grown to such excess,
I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.
Friar Laurence
Come, come with me, and we will make short work.
For by your leaves, you shall not stay alone
1430Till holy church incorporate two in one.