ASK ME NO MORE WHERE JOVE BESTOWS

Ask me no more where Jove bestows,
When June is past, the fading rose ;
For in your beauty's orient deep
These flowers, as in their causes, sleep.

Ask me no more whither do stray
The golden atoms of the day;
For in pure love heaven did prepare
Those powders to enrich your hair.

Ask me no more whither doth haste
The nightingale when May is past;
For in your sweet dividing throat
She winters, and keeps warm her note.

Ask me no more where those stars 'light
That downwards fall in dead of night;
For in your eyes they sit, and there
Fixed become as in their sphere.

Ask me no more if east or west
The Phoenix builds her spicy nest;
For unto you at last she flies,
And in your fragrant bosom dies.

T. CAREW.

32

WALLER

TO AMARANTHA

That she would dishevel her hair.

AMARANTHA, sweet and fair,

Ah, braid no more that shining hair!
As my curious hand or eye
Hovering round thee, let it fly.

Let it fly as unconfined

As its calm ravisher the wind,

Who hath left his darling, the east,
To wanton o'er that spicy nest.

Every tress must be confessed;
But neatly tangled at the best;
Like a clue of golden thread
Most excellently ravelled.

Do not, then, wind up that light
In ribbons, and o'ercloud in night,
Like the sun in 's early ray;

But shake your head and scatter day.

R. LOVELACE.

ON A GIRDLE

THAT which her slender waist confined
Shall now my joyful temples bind :
No monarch but would give his crown
His arms might do what this has done.

5

ΤΟ

15

TENNYSON

It was my heaven's extremest sphere,
The pale which held that lovely dear :
My joy, my grief, my hope, my love
Did all within this circle move.

A narrow compass! and yet there
Dwelt all that 's good, and all that 's fair :
Give me but what this ribbon bound,

Take all the rest the sun goes round.

E. WALLER.

THE MILLER'S DAUGHTER

It is the miller's daughter,

And she is grown so dear, so dear, That I would be the jewel

That trembles at her ear:

For hid in ringlets day and night,

33

5

ΙΟ

5

I'd touch her neck so warm and white.

And I would be the girdle

About her dainty, dainty waist,

And her heart would beat against me,
In sorrow and in rest:

And I should know if it beat right,
I'd clasp it round so close and tight.

ΤΟ

And I would be the necklace,
And all day long to fall and rise
Upon her balmy bosom,

With her laughter or her sighs,
And I would lie so light, so light,
I scarce should be unclasped at night.

LORD TENNYSON.

15

MY LOVE IS LIKE A RED RED ROSE

My love is like a red red rose
That's newly sprung in June:
My love is like the melodie

That's sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in love am I :
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi' the sun :
And I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only love,

And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my love,

Tho' it were ten thousand mile.

R. BURNS.

5

10

15

BURNS

35

OF A' THE AIRTS THE WIND CAN BLAW

OF a' the airts the wind can blaw

I dearly like the West,

For there the bonnie lassie lives,

The lassie I lo'e best :

There wild woods grow, and rivers row,

And mony a hill between ;

But day and night my fancy's flight

Is ever wi' my Jean.

I see her in the dewy flowers,
I see her sweet and fair:
I hear her in the tunefu' birds,

I hear her charm the air :

There's not a bonnie flower that springs
By fountain, shaw, or green;

There's not a bonnie bird that sings,

But minds me o' my Jean.

R. BURNS.

BONNIE LESLEY

O, SAW ye bonnie Lesley

As she gaed o'er the Border?

She's gane, like Alexander,

To spread her conquests farther.

To see her is to love her,

And love but her for ever;

For Nature made her what she is,

And never made anither!

5