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Behold then, as my love and friend

Thou hast the choice thy life to spend.

Wot’st thou how great the gift I throw

Here at thy feet? Thou ne’er shouldst know

The pain of void unsatisfied,

But over all mischance shouldst ride

Triumphant, and shouldst lordly soar

’Bove proudest king or emperor.

How high soe’er thy soul aspire

Thou nought shalt fail of thy desire,

Seen thou art ready to fulfil,

Unmurmuring, all my sovereign will.

Dost thou with me in love engage,

One shall be thine whose lineage

Surpasseth all men might compare

Therewith, for I am child and heir

To God supreme, whose power and grace

Hath shed o’er all my form and face

His own unclouded brightness. See,

Dear friend, what beauty glows in me:

Yet ne’er hath dame of high repute

Loved with a love so absolute.

’Tis by my father’s will I make

That man my friend whose love I wake;

Nor need we tremble to incur

From him displeasure or demur,

But he will guard us ’neath his wing.

Say then, what think’st thou of this thing?

The god who holds thy heart in snare

So tightly, is his yoke more fair