1 Love is too young to know what conscience is, paradox: love's innocence and guilt
Love is too young to know what conscience is; Love is too young to know what conscience is; young love
2 Yet who knows not conscience is born of love?
Yet who knows not conscience is born of love? Yet who knows not that conscience comes from love? love's conscience
3 Then gentle cheater urge not my amiss,
Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss, Then, gentle cheater, don't push my mistakes, gentle cheat
4 Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove.
Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove: Lest you prove guilty through yourself; your guilt
5 For thou betraying me, I do betray
For, thou betraying me, I do betray, For, you betraying me, I do betray, mutual betrayal
6 My nobler part to my gross body’s treason,
My nobler part to his base elements; My nobler part to his base elements; base elements
7 My soul doth tell my body that he may,
My soul, which but doth what it is said, My soul, which merely does what it's told, obedient soul
8 Triumph in love, flesh stays no farther reason,
Is acting not its part, but a part of thee: Isn't acting its role, but part of you; part of you
Volta The volta shifts from philosophical abstraction (what conscience is) to carnal reality: the body rises and triumphs, betraying the soul.
9 But rising at thy name doth point out thee,
So it is not lust, though it be call'd so, So it's not lust, though it's called so, not lust
10 As his triumphant prize, proud of this pride,
It is a lesser blot, a stain, a crack, It's a lesser fault, a stain, a crack, lesser fault
11 He is contented thy poor drudge to be,
Compar'd with thee, all pure, all truth, all fair, Compared with you, all pure, all true, all fair, you're pure
12 To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side.
But yet I do repent; for thou hast won, But yet I repent; for you have won, you've won
13 No want of conscience hold it that I call,
My name from all displeasures now, My name from all displeasures now, my name
14 Her love, for whose dear love I rise and fall.
By law of nature thou art bound to breed, By law of nature you are bound to breed, nature's law