Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

ACT II SCENE VI	Friar Laurence's cell.
	Enter FRIAR LAURENCE and ROMEO
FRIAR LAURENCE	So smile the heavens upon this holy act,
	That after hours with sorrow chide us not!
ROMEO	Amen, amen! but come what sorrow can,
	It cannot countervail the exchange of joy	5
	That one short minute gives me in her sight:
	Do thou but close our hands with holy words,
	Then love-devouring death do what he dare;
	It is enough I may but call her mine.
FRIAR LAURENCE	These violent delights have violent ends	10
	And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
	Which as they kiss consume: the sweetest honey
	Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
	And in the taste confounds the appetite:
	Therefore love moderately; long love doth so;	15
	Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.
	Enter JULIET
	Here comes the lady: O, so light a foot
	Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint:
	A lover may bestride the gossamer
	That idles in the wanton summer air,	20
	And yet not fall; so light is vanity.
JULIET	Good even to my ghostly confessor.
FRIAR LAURENCE	Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both.
JULIET	As much to him, else is his thanks too much.
ROMEO	Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy	25
	Be heap'd like mine and that thy skill be more
	To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath
	This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue
	Unfold the imagined happiness that both
	Receive in either by this dear encounter.	30
JULIET	Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,
	Brags of his substance, not of ornament:
	They are but beggars that can count their worth;
	But my true love is grown to such excess
	I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.	35
FRIAR LAURENCE	Come, come with me, and we will make short work;
	For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone
	Till holy church incorporate two in one.
	Exeunt