The Whole Works of William Browne of Tavistock ... Now first collected and edited, with a memoir of the poet, and notes, by W. Carew Hazlitt, of the Inner Temple |
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 | The Whole Works of William Browne |  |
7.
[Fairest, when I am gone, as now the Glasse]
Fairest, when I am gone, as now the GlasseOf Time is mark't how long I haue to staye,
Let me intreat you, ere from hence I passe,
Perhaps from you for euermore awaye,
Thinke that noe common Loue hath fir'd my Breast,
No base desire, but Vertue truely knowne,
Which I may love, & wish to haue possest,
Were you the high'st as fair'st of any one;
'Tis not your louely eye inforcing flames,
Nor beautious redd beneath a snowy skin,
That so much bindes me yours, or makes you Flames,
As the pure light & beauty shryn'd within:
Yet outward parts I must affect of duty,
As for the smell we like the Roses beauty.
| The Whole Works of William Browne | |