A Midsummer Night's Dream

Be it ounce30 or cat or bear,

Pard31, or boar with bristled hair,

In thy eye that shall appear

When thou wak'st, it is thy dear.

Wake when some vile thing is near.

[Exit]

Enter Lysander and Hermia

LYSANDER Fair love, you faint with wand'ring in the wood,

And to speak troth36, I have forgot our way:

We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,

And tarry for the comfort of the day38.

HERMIA Be it so, Lysander; find you out a bed,

For I upon this bank will rest my head.

LYSANDER One turf shall serve as pillow for us both:

One heart, one bed, two bosoms and one troth42.

HERMIA Nay, good Lysander, for my sake, my dear,

Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.

LYSANDER O, take the sense45, sweet, of my innocence!

Love takes the meaning in love's conference46.

I mean that my heart unto yours is knit

So that but one heart we can make of it.

Two bosoms interchained with an oath,

So then two bosoms and a single troth.

Then by your side no bed-room me deny,

For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie52.

HERMIA Lysander riddles very prettily53.

Now much beshrew54 my manners and my pride,

If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.

But, gentle friend56, for love and courtesy

Lie further off, in human57 modesty: