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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A LETTER |
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 | The poetical works of William Strode |  |
A LETTER
Goe happy Paper: by commandTake liberty to kisse her hand,
More white than any part of thee,
Although with spots thou graced bee.
The glory of the clearest day,
The morning ayre perfumd in May,
The first borne rose of all the Spring,
The downe beneath a Turtle's wing,
A lute just reaching to the eare;
What ere is soft, or sweete, or fayre,
Are but her shreds, who fills the place
And some of every single grace.
As in a child the nurse descryes
The mother's lippes, the father's eyes,
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An owner to each part; so I
In her could analyze the store
Of all the Choyce ere nature bore.
Each private peece to minde may call
Some worth; but none can match it all.
Poore emblems! they can but expresse
One element of comelinesse:
None are so rich to shew in one
All simples of perfection:
Nor can the Pencill represent
More than the outward lineament.
Then who can limbe the portrayture
Of beauties live behavior?
Or what can figure every kinde
Of Jewells that adorne her minde?
Thought cannot draw her picture full:
Even Thought to her is grosse and dull.
| The poetical works of William Strode | |