Romeo and Juliet - Act 2 - Scene 6

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
    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
    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;
    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,
    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
    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.

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.

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