Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Act 2 - Scene 6
Friar Laurence’s cell.
Friar Laurence : So smile the heavens upon this holy act,
[p]That after hours with
sorrow chide us not!
Romeo : Amen, amen! but come what sorrow can,
[p]It cannot countervail the
exchange of joy
[p]That one short minute gives me in her sight:
[p]Do
thou but close our hands with holy words,
[p]Then love-devouring death
do what he dare;
[p]It is enough I may but call her mine.
Friar Laurence : These violent delights have violent ends
[p]And in their triumph die,
like fire and powder,
[p]Which as they kiss consume: the sweetest
honey
[p]Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
[p]And in the taste
confounds the appetite:
[p]Therefore love moderately; long love doth
so;
[p]Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.
[p][Enter
JULIET]
[p]Here comes the lady: O, so light a foot
[p]Will ne'er wear
out the everlasting flint:
[p]A lover may bestride the
gossamer
[p]That idles in the wanton summer air,
[p]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
[p]Be heap'd like mine and that
thy skill be more
[p]To blazon it, then sweeten with thy
breath
[p]This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue
[p]Unfold
the imagined happiness that both
[p]Receive in either by this dear
encounter.
Juliet : Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,
[p]Brags of his substance,
not of ornament:
[p]They are but beggars that can count their
worth;
[p]But my true love is grown to such excess
[p]I cannot sum up
sum of half my wealth.
Friar Laurence : Come, come with me, and we will make short work;
[p]For, by your
leaves, you shall not stay alone
[p]Till holy church incorporate two
in one.
Previous: Act 2 - Scene 5
Next: Act 3 - Scene 1
