Dark Muse
08-12-2008, 02:00 PM
An English Poety and Country Squire 1590-1645
Gentle Nymphs, Be Not Refusing
GENTLE nymphs, be not refusing,
Love's neglect is Time's abusing,
They and Beauty are but lent you,
Take the one and keep the other;
Love keeps fresh what age doth smother;
Beauty gone, you will repent you.
'Twill be said when ye have proved,
Never swains more truly loved;
Oh then, fly all nice behaviour.
Pity fain would, as her duty,
Be attending still on Beauty,
Let her not be out of favour.
On the Dowager Countess of Pembroke
UNDERNEATH this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse,
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother;
Death, ere thou hast slain another
Fair and learned and good as she,
Time shall throw a dart at thee.
A Rose As Fair As Ever Saw The North
A ROSE, as fair as ever saw the north,
Grew in a little garden all alone;
A sweeter flower did Nature ne'er put forth,
Nor fairer garden yet was never known.
The maidens danced about it more and more,
And learned bards of it their ditties made;
The nimble fairies by the pale-faced moon
Watered the root and kissed her pretty shade.
But well-a-day, the gardener careless grew,
The maids and fairies both were kept away,
And in a drought the caterpillars threw
Themselves upon the bud and every spray.
God shield the stock! if Heaven send no supplies,
The fairest blossom of the garden dies.
Down In A Valley By A Forest's Side
DOWN in a valley, by a forest's side,
Near where the crystal Thames rolls on her waves,
I saw a mushroom stand in haughty pride,
As if the lilies grew to be his slaves.
The gentle daisy, with her silver crown,
Worn in the breast of many a shepherd's lass;
The humble violet, that lowly down
Salutes the gay nymphs as they trimly pass:
These, with many more, methought, complained
That Nature should those needless things produce,
Which not alone the sun from others gained,
But turn it wholly to their proper use.
I could not choose but grieve that Nature made
So glorious flowers to live in such a shade.
Gentle Nymphs, Be Not Refusing
GENTLE nymphs, be not refusing,
Love's neglect is Time's abusing,
They and Beauty are but lent you,
Take the one and keep the other;
Love keeps fresh what age doth smother;
Beauty gone, you will repent you.
'Twill be said when ye have proved,
Never swains more truly loved;
Oh then, fly all nice behaviour.
Pity fain would, as her duty,
Be attending still on Beauty,
Let her not be out of favour.
On the Dowager Countess of Pembroke
UNDERNEATH this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse,
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother;
Death, ere thou hast slain another
Fair and learned and good as she,
Time shall throw a dart at thee.
A Rose As Fair As Ever Saw The North
A ROSE, as fair as ever saw the north,
Grew in a little garden all alone;
A sweeter flower did Nature ne'er put forth,
Nor fairer garden yet was never known.
The maidens danced about it more and more,
And learned bards of it their ditties made;
The nimble fairies by the pale-faced moon
Watered the root and kissed her pretty shade.
But well-a-day, the gardener careless grew,
The maids and fairies both were kept away,
And in a drought the caterpillars threw
Themselves upon the bud and every spray.
God shield the stock! if Heaven send no supplies,
The fairest blossom of the garden dies.
Down In A Valley By A Forest's Side
DOWN in a valley, by a forest's side,
Near where the crystal Thames rolls on her waves,
I saw a mushroom stand in haughty pride,
As if the lilies grew to be his slaves.
The gentle daisy, with her silver crown,
Worn in the breast of many a shepherd's lass;
The humble violet, that lowly down
Salutes the gay nymphs as they trimly pass:
These, with many more, methought, complained
That Nature should those needless things produce,
Which not alone the sun from others gained,
But turn it wholly to their proper use.
I could not choose but grieve that Nature made
So glorious flowers to live in such a shade.