A lingering death may avail my soul, but it is the illest of ills that
can befortune my body. For my soul's health I beg my body's torment;
be not thou a devil to torment my soul, and send me to eternal damnation.
Thy overhanging sword hides heaven from my sight; I dare not look up
lest I embrace my death's-wound unwares. I cannot pray to God and plead
to thee both at once. Ay me, already I see my life buried in the wrinkles
of
thy brows; say but I shall live, though thou meanest to kill me. Nothing
confounds like to sudden terror; it thrusts every sense out of office.