ACT 2
[Enter FRIAR LAURENCE and ROMEO]
FRIAR LAURENCE
So smile the heavens upon this holy act,
I pray the heavens smile upon this marriage,
That after hours with sorrow chide us not!
To make us sad when we reflect upon it!
ROMEO
Amen, amen! But come what sorrow can,
Amen to that! But sadness we endure
It cannot countervail the exchange of joy
Can’t be eclipsed by all the joy I feel
That one short minute gives me in her sight:
When spending just a minute in her sight:
Do thou but close our hands with holy words,
When you bless us in marriage, holding hands,
Then love-devouring death do what he dare;
I challenge death to try to kill our love;
It is enough I may but call her mine.
It is enough for me to call her mine.
FRIAR LAURENCE
These violent delights have violent ends
Infatuation often ends in pain,
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
And when it ends, like gunpowder and fire,
Which as they kiss consume: the sweetest honey
That lust will self-combust. Delicious honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
Is nauseating due to being tasty,
And in the taste confounds the appetite:
And quickly eating too much makes you sick.
Therefore love moderately; long love doth so;
And so, take time with love, so love can last;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.
For love too slow is as bad as love too fast.
[Enter JULIET]
Here comes the lady: O, so light a foot
Here comes the lady. Oh, she’s so light-footed,
Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint:
She’ll never make the paving stones wear down.
A lover may bestride the gossamer
A lover’s lightness lets her walk on cobwebs
That idles in the wanton summer air,
That gently float in summer’s easy air,
And yet not fall; so light is vanity.
Yet never will she fall, for love is buoyant.
JULIET
Good even to my ghostly confessor.
Good evening, my spiritual priest.
FRIAR LAURENCE
Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both.
Romeo will thank you, daughter, for the both of us.
JULIET
As much to him, else is his thanks too much.
I’ll thank him back, else gratitude’s unbalanced.
ROMEO
Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy
Ah, Juliet, if your joy could be measured,
Be heaped like mine and that thy skill be more
And is piled high like mine, and if you’re more skilled
To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath
Articulating it, then speak sweet words
This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue
Within this air we share, and let your lush voice
Unfold the imagined happiness that both
Reveal the happiness we both imagine
Receive in either by this dear encounter.
Our marriage will endow on both of us.
JULIET
Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,
Romantic thoughts, far more than words can state,
Brags of his substance, not of ornament:
Are overwhelming, and I can’t describe them:
They are but beggars that can count their worth;
You’re poor when knowing boundaries of your love;
But my true love is grown to such excess
But my true love has grown to such a size,
I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.
I cannot count up half the love I have.
FRIAR LAURENCE
Come, come with me, and we will make short work;
Come with me, and we’ll quicky get this done:
For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone
For, with permission, you won’t stay alone
Till holy church incorporate two in one.
Till married, then the two of you are one.
[Exeunt]
