Delphi Poetry Anthology: The World's Greatest Poems (Delphi Poets Series Book 50) (114 page)
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Authors: Homer,William Shakespeare
To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars
Richard Lovelace (1618–1658)
TELL me not, Sweet, I am unkind
That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind,
To war and arms I fly.
True, a new mistress now I chase,
5
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.
Yet this inconstancy is such
As you too shall adore;
10
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Richard Lovelace (1618–1658)
WHEN Love with unconfinèd wings
Hovers within my gates,
And my divine Althea brings
To whisper at the grates;
When I lie tangled in her hair
5
And fetter’d to her eye,
The birds that wanton in the air
Know no such liberty.
When flowing cups run swiftly round
With no allaying Thames,
10
Our careless heads with roses crown’d,
Our hearts with loyal flames;
When thirsty grief in wine we steep,
When healths and draughts go free —
Fishes that tipple in the deep
15
Know no such liberty.
When, linnet-like confinèd I
With shriller throat shall sing
The sweetness, mercy, majesty
And glories of my King;
20
When I shall voice aloud how good
He is, how great should be,
Enlargèd winds, that curl the flood,
Know no such liberty.
Stone walls do not a prison make,
25
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love
And in my soul am free,
30
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
To Lucasta, Going Beyond the Seas
Richard Lovelace (1618–1658)
IF to be absent were to be
Away from thee;
Or that when I am gone
You or I were alone;
Then, my Lucasta, might I crave
5
Pity from blustering wind, or swallowing wave.
But I’ll not sigh one blast or gale
To swell my sail,
Or pay a tear to ‘suage
The foaming blue god’s rage;
10
For whether he will let me pass
Or no, I’m still as happy as I was.
Though seas and land betwixt us both,
Our faith and troth,
Like separated souls,
15
All time and space controls:
Above the highest sphere we meet
Unseen, unknown, and greet as Angels greet.
So then we do anticipate
Our after-fate,
20
And are alive i’ the skies,
If thus our lips and eyes
Can speak like spirits unconfined
In Heaven, their earthly bodies left behind.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Edmund Waller (1606–1687)
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.
It was my Heaven’s extremest sphere,
5
The pale which held that lovely deer:
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:
10
Give me but what this ribband bound,
Take all the rest the Sun goes round.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Edmund Waller (1606–1687)
GO, lovely Rose!
Tell her, that wastes her time and me,
That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be.
5
Tell her that’s young
And shuns to have her graces spied,
That hadst thou sprung
In deserts, where no men abide,
Thou must have uncommended died.
10
Small is the worth
Of beauty from the light retired:
Bid her come forth,
Suffer herself to be desired,
And not blush so to be admired.
15
Then die! that she
The common fate of all things rare
May read in thee:
How small a part of time they share
They are so wondrous sweet and fair!
20
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
On the Queen’s Return from the Low Countries
William Cartwright (1611–1643)
HALLOW the threshold, crown the posts anew!
The day shall have its due.
Twist all our victories into one bright wreath,
On which let honour breathe:
Then throw it round the temples of our Queen!
5
’Tis she that must preserve those glories green.
When greater tempests than on sea before
Received her on the shore;
When she was shot at ‘for the King’s own good’
By legions hired to blood;
10
How bravely did she do, how bravely bear!
And show’d, though they durst rage, she durst not fear.
Courage was cast about her like a dress
Of solemn comeliness:
A gather’d mind and an untroubled face
15
Did give her dangers grace:
Thus, arm’d with innocence, secure they move
Whose highest ‘treason’ is but highest love.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
James Graham, Marquis of Montrose
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
James Graham, Marquis of Montrose (1612–1650)
MY dear and only Love, I pray
That little world of thee
Be govern’d by no other sway
Than purest monarchy;
For if confusion have a part
5
(Which virtuous souls abhor),
And hold a synod in thine heart,
I’ll never love thee more.
Like Alexander I will reign,
And I will reign alone;
10
My thoughts did evermore disdain
A rival on my throne.
He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
That dares not put it to the touch,
15
To gain or lose it all.
And in the empire of thine heart,
Where I should solely be,
If others do pretend a part
Or dare to vie with me,
20
Or if
Committees
thou erect,
And go on such a score,
I’ll laugh and sing at thy neglect,
And never love thee more.
But if thou wilt prove faithful then,
25
And constant of thy word,
I’ll make thee glorious by my pen
And famous by my sword;
I’ll serve thee in such noble ways
Was never heard before;
30
I’ll crown and deck thee all with bays,
And love thee more and more.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order