The poetical works of William Strode ... Now first collected from manuscript and printed sources: to which is added: The floating island a tragi-comedy: Now first reprinted from the original edition of 1655: Edited by Bertram Dobell with a memoir of the author |
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ON HIS MISTRESSE |
 | The poetical works of William Strode |  |
128
ON HIS MISTRESSE
Gaze not on swans in whose soft breast
A full hatcht beauty seems to rest,
Nor snow which falling from the sky
Hovers in its virginity.
A full hatcht beauty seems to rest,
Nor snow which falling from the sky
Hovers in its virginity.
Gaze not on roses though new blown
Grac'd with a fresh complexion,
Nor lilly which no subtle bee
Hath rob'd by kissing chemistry.
Grac'd with a fresh complexion,
Nor lilly which no subtle bee
Hath rob'd by kissing chemistry.
129
Gaze not on that pure milky way
Where night vies splendour with the day,
Nor pearls whose silver walls confine
The riches of an Indian mine:
Where night vies splendour with the day,
Nor pearls whose silver walls confine
The riches of an Indian mine:
For if my emperesse appears
Swans moultring dy, snows melt to tears,
Roses do blush and hang their heads
Pale lillyes shrink into their beds;
Swans moultring dy, snows melt to tears,
Roses do blush and hang their heads
Pale lillyes shrink into their beds;
The milky way rides poast to shrowd
Its baffled glory in a clowd,
And pearls do climb unto her eare
To hang themselves for envy there.
Its baffled glory in a clowd,
And pearls do climb unto her eare
To hang themselves for envy there.
So have I seene stars big with light,
Proud lanthorns to the moone-ey'd night,
Which when Sol's rays were once display'd
Sunk in their sockets and decay'd.
Proud lanthorns to the moone-ey'd night,
Which when Sol's rays were once display'd
Sunk in their sockets and decay'd.
| The poetical works of William Strode | |