1. WHy o doth gaudy Tagus ravish thee, Though Neptune's treasure-house it bee? Why doth Pactolus thee bewitch, Infected yet with Midas' glorious Itch? 2. Their dull and sleepy streames are not at all Like other Flouds, Poeticall; They have no dance, noe wanton sport, No gentle murmur, the lov'd shore to court. 3. No fish inhabite the adulterate floud, Nor can it feede the neighboring wood; No flower or herbe is neere it found, But a perpetuall winter sterves the ground. 4. Give me a river which doth scorne to shew An added beauty; whose cleere brow May bee my looking-glasse, to see What my face is, and what my mind should bee. 5. Here waves call waves, and glide along in ranke, And prattle to the smiling banke. Here sad Kingfishers tell thy tales, And fish enrich the Brooke with silver scales. 6. Dasyes the first borne of the teeming Spring, On each side their embrodery bring; Here Lillies wash, and grow more white, And Daffadills to see themselves delight. 7. Here a fresh arbor gives her amorous shade, Which Nature, the best Gard'ner made. Here I would set, and sing rude layes, Such as the Nimphes and me my selfe should please. 8. Thus I would wast, thus end my carelesse dayes, And Robin-red-brests whom men prayse For pious birds, should when I dye, Make both my monument and Elegie. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GO SLEEP, MA HONEY by EDWARD D. BARKER A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 4 by THOMAS CAMPION THRENODY by RALPH WALDO EMERSON SYMPHONY OF THE SOIL by EVA K. ANGLESBURG LARABELLE; CANTO THIRD by LEVI BISHOP ASPIRATIONS: 12 by MATHILDE BLIND SOLOMON'S SONG by REGINA MIRIAM BLOCH HINC LACHRIMAE; OR THE AUTHOR TO AURORA: 28 by WILLIAM BOSWORTH |