Give place, you ladies, and begone, Boast not yourselves at all; For here at hand approacheth one Whose face will stain you all. The virtue of her lively looks Excels the precious stone; I wish to have none other books To read or look upon. In each of her two crystal eyes Smileth a naked boy; It would you all in heart suffice To see that lamp of joy. I think nature hath lost the mould Where she her shape did take, Or else I doubt if nature could So fair a creature make. She may be well compared Unto the phoenix kind, Whose like was never seen nor heard That any man can find. In life she is Diana chaste, In truth Penelopey, In word and eke in deed steadfast; What will you more we say? If all the world were sought so far, Who could find such a wight? Her beauty twinkleth like a star Within the frosty night. Her rosial colour comes and goes With such a comely grace, More ruddier too, than doth the rose, Within her lively face. At Bacchus' feast none shall her meet Ne at no wanton play, Nor gazing in an open street, Nor gadding as astray. The modest mirth that she doth use Is mixed with shamefastness, All vice she doth wholly refuse And hateth idleness. O Lord! it is a world to see How virtue can repair, And deck in her such honesty, Whom nature made so fair. Truly, she doth as far exceed Our women nowadays, As doth the gillyflower a weed; And more a thousand ways. How might I do to get a graff Of this unspotted tree? For all the rest are plain but chaff Which seem good corn to be. This gift alone I shall her give When death doth what he can, Her honest fame shall ever live Within the mouth of man. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A BOOK OF AIRS SONG 18 by THOMAS CAMPION STAR-TALK by ROBERT RANKE GRAVES THE GOAT PATHS by JAMES STEPHENS SONNET ON PIETRO REGGIO HIS SETTING TO MUSIC MR. COWLEY'S POEMS by PHILIP AYRES PARLEYINGS WITH CERTAIN PEOPLE OF IMPORTANCE: GERARD DE LAIRESSE by ROBERT BROWNING |