To St Mary Magdalen

  
  FOR few nights' solace in delicious bed
    Where heat of lust did kindle flames of hell,
    Thou nak'd on naked rock in desert cell
Lay thirty years, and tears of grief did shed.
But for that time thy heart there sorrowed
    Thou now in heaven eternally dost dwell,
    And for each tear which from thine eyes then fell,
A sea of pleasure now is rendered.
If short delights entice my heart to stray,
    Let me by thy long penance learn to know
How dear I should for trifling pleasures pay;
       And if I virtue's rough beginning shun,
Let thy eternal joys unto me show
       What high rewards by little pain is won. 		Constable continues with the imagery of the tears which fell for thirty years and have now accumulated into a "sea".  Furthermore, these tears of penance ensure that this "sea" is one of eternal "pleasure".

It is interesting to note the two uses of the word "pleasure" in this sonnet.  When referring to celestial pleasure, Constable draws on the vastness of the sea in order to describe such happiness; however, when referring to corporeal and bodily happiness, Constable is sure to point out that such pleasures are "trifling".

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Henry Constable (1562-1613)

  
 
   

created by Heather C. Milligan