Joyance

So forth they marchen in this goodly fort, / To take the ſolace of the open aire, / And in freſh flowring fields themſelues to ſport; / Emongſt the reſt rode that falſe Lady faire, / The foule Dueſsa, next vnto the chaire / Of proud Lucifer’, as one of the traine: / But that good knight would not ſo nigh repaire, / Him ſelfe eſtraunging from their ioyaunce vaine, / Whoſe fellowſhip ſeemd far vnfitt for warlike ſwaine.

So dreadfully he towardes him did pas, / Forelifting vp a loft his ſpeckled breſt, / And often bounding on the bruſed gras, / As for great ioyaunce of his newcome gueſt.

After them went Diſpleaſure and Pleaſaunce, / He looking lompiſh and full ſullein ſad, / And hanging downe his heauy countenaunce; / She chearfull freſh and full of ioyaunce glad, / As if no ſorrow ſhe ne felt ne dread; / That euill matched paire they ſeemd to bee: / An angry Waſpe th’one in a viall had / Th’other in hers an hony-lady Bee, / Thus marched theſe ſix couples forth in faire degree

For though like withered tree, that wanteth iuyce, / She old and crooked were, yet now of late, / As freſh and fragrant as the floure deluce, / She was become, by chaunge of her eſtate, / And made full goodly ioyance to her new found mate.

There with great ioyance and with gladſome glee, / Of faire Pœana I receiued was, / And oft imbraſt, as if that I were hee, / And with kind words accoyd, vowing great loue to mee.

In ſuch luxurious plentie of all pleaſure, / It ſeem’d a ſecond paradiſe to gheſſe, / So lauiſhly enricht with natures threaſure, / That if the happie ſoules, which doe poſſeſſe / Th’Elyſian fields, and liue in laſting bleſſe, / Should happen this with liuing eye to ſee, / They ſoone would loath their leſſer happineſſe, / And wiſh to life return’d againe to bee, / That in this ioyous place they mote haue ioyance free.

O the one life within us and abroad, Which meets all motion and becomes its soul, A light in sound, a sound-like power in light, Rhythm in all thought, and joyance everywhere—

...for excess of joyance never knew How went the day and how it came again.