If thou dost slander her and torture me,
Never pray more; abandon all remorse;
On horror's head read more

If thou dost slander her and torture me,
Never pray more; abandon all remorse;
On horror's head horrors accumulate;
Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amazed;
For nothing canst thou to damnation add
Greater than that.

The nympholepsy of some fond despair.

The nympholepsy of some fond despair.

Darkness our guide, Despair our leader was.

Darkness our guide, Despair our leader was.

They have tied me to a stake. I cannot fly,
But bear-like I must fight the course.

They have tied me to a stake. I cannot fly,
But bear-like I must fight the course.

Despair of ever being saved, "except thou be born again," or of
seeing God "without holiness," or of having read more

Despair of ever being saved, "except thou be born again," or of
seeing God "without holiness," or of having part in Christ except
thou "love him above father, mother, or thy own life." This kind
of despair is one of the first steps to heaven.

No change, no pause, no hope! Yet I endure.

No change, no pause, no hope! Yet I endure.

O that this too too sullied flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,
Or read more

O that this too too sullied flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter.

There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when read more

There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope.

Thus repuls'd, our final hope
Is flat despair.

Thus repuls'd, our final hope
Is flat despair.