Delphi Poetry Anthology: The World's Greatest Poems (Delphi Poets Series Book 50) (75 page)
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Authors: Homer,William Shakespeare
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542)
AND wilt thou leave me thus!
Say nay! say nay! for shame!
To save thee from the blame
Of all my grief and grame.
And wilt thou leave me thus?
5
Say nay! say nay!
And wilt thou leave me thus,
That hath loved thee so long
In wealth and woe among:
And is thy heart so strong
10
As for to leave me thus?
Say nay! say nay!
And wilt thou leave me thus,
That hath given thee my heart
Never for to depart
15
Neither for pain nor smart:
And wilt thou leave me thus?
Say nay! say nay!
And wilt thou leave me thus,
And have no more pity
20
Of him that loveth thee?
Alas! thy cruelty!
And wilt thou leave me thus?
Say nay! say nay!
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Complaint of the Absence of Her Lover Being upon the Sea
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–1547)
O HAPPY dames! that may embrace
The fruit of your delight,
Help to bewail the woful case
And eke the heavy plight
Of me, that wonted to rejoice
5
The fortune of my pleasant choice:
Good ladies, help to fill my mourning voice.
In ship, freight with rememberance
Of thoughts and pleasures past,
He sails that hath in governance
10
My life while it will last:
With scalding sighs, for lack of gale,
Furthering his hope, that is his sail,
Toward me, the swete port of his avail.
Alas! how oft in dreams I see
15
Those eyes that were my food;
Which sometime so delighted me,
That yet they do me good:
Wherewith I wake with his return
Whose absent flame did make me burn:
20
But when I find the lack, Lord! how I mourn!
When other lovers in arms across
Rejoice their chief delight,
Drownèd in tears, to mourn my loss
I stand the bitter night
25
In my window where I may see
Before the winds how the clouds flee:
Lo! what a mariner love hath made me!
And in green waves when the salt flood
Doth rise by rage of wind,
30
A thousand fancies in that mood
Assail my restless mind.
Alas! now drencheth my sweet foe,
That with the spoil of my heart did go,
And left me; but alas! why did he so?
35
And when the seas wax calm again
To chase fro me annoy,
My doubtful hope doth cause me pain;
So dread cuts off my joy.
Thus in my wealth mingled with woe
40
And of each thought a doubt doth grow;
— Now he comes! Will he come? Alas! no, no.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
The Means to Attain Happy Life
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–1547)
MARTIAL, the things that do attain
The happy life be these, I find: —
The richesse left, not got with pain;
The fruitful ground, the quiet mind;
The equal friend; no grudge, no strife;
5
No charge of rule, nor governance;
Without disease, the healthful life;
The household of continuance;
The mean diet, no delicate fare;
True wisdom join’d with simpleness;
10
The night dischargèd of all care,
Where wine the wit may not oppress.
The faithful wife, without debate;
Such sleeps as may beguile the night:
Contented with thine own estate
15
Ne wish for death, ne fear his might.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
A Complaint by Night of the Lover not beloved
ALAS! so all things now do hold their peace!
Heaven and earth disturbed in no thing;
The beasts, the air, the birds their song do cease,
The nightès car the stars about doth bring.
Calm is the sea; the waves work less and less:
5
So am not I, whom love, alas! doth wring,
Bringing before my face the great increase
Of my desires, whereat I weep and sing,
In joy and woe, as in a doubtful ease.
For my sweet thoughts sometime do pleasure bring;
10
But by and by, the cause of my disease
Gives me a pang, that inwardly doth sting,
When that I think what grief it is again,
To live and lack the thing should rid my pain.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
George Gascoigne (1525–1577)
SING lullaby, as women do,
Wherewith they bring their babes to rest;
And lullaby can I sing too,
As womanly as can the best.
With lullaby they still the child;
5
And if I be not much beguiled,
Full many a wanton babe have I,
Which must be still’d with lullaby.
First lullaby my youthful years,
It is now time to go to bed:
10
For crookèd age and hoary hairs
Have won the haven within my head.
With lullaby, then, youth be still;
With lullaby content thy will;
Since courage quails and comes behind,
15
Go sleep, and so beguile thy mind!
Next lullaby my gazing eyes,
Which wonted were to glance apace;
For every glass may now suffice
To show the furrows in thy face.
20
With lullaby then wink awhile;
With lullaby your looks beguile;
Let no fair face, nor beauty bright,
Entice you eft with vain delight.
And lullaby my wanton will;
25
Let reason’s rule now reign thy thought;
Since all too late I find by skill
How dear I have thy fancies bought;
With lullaby now take thine case,
With lullaby thy doubts appease;
30
For trust to this, if thou be still,
My body shall obey thy will.
Thus lullaby my youth, mine eyes,
My will, my ware, and all that was:
I can no more delays devise;
35
But welcome pain, let pleasure pass.
With lullaby now take your leave;
With lullaby your dreams deceive;
And when you rise with waking eye,
Remember then this lullaby.
40
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Nicholas Breton (1545–1626)
IN the merry month of May,
In a morn by break of day,
Forth I walk’d by the wood-side
When as May was in his pride:
There I spièd all alone
5
Phillida and Coridon.
Much ado there was, God wot!
He would love and she would not.
She said, Never man was true;
He said, None was false to you.
10
He said, He had loved her long;
She said, Love should have no wrong.
Coridon would kiss her then;
She said, Maids must kiss no men
Till they did for good and all;
15
Then she made the shepherd call
All the heavens to witness truth
Never loved a truer youth.
Thus with many a pretty oath,
Yea and nay, and faith and troth,
20
Such as silly shepherds use
When they will not Love abuse,
Love, which had been long deluded,
Was with kisses sweet concluded;
And Phillida, with garlands gay,
25
Was made the Lady of the May.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Anthony Munday (1553–1663)
BEAUTY sat bathing by a spring
Where fairest shades did hide her;
The winds blew calm, the birds did sing,
The cool streams ran beside her.
My wanton thoughts enticed mine eye
5
To see what was forbidden:
But better memory said, fie!
So vain desire was chidden: —
Hey nonny nonny O!
Hey nonny nonny!
10
Into a slumber then I fell,
When fond imagination
Seeméd to see, but could not tell
Her feature or her fashion.
But, ev’n as babes in dreams do smile,
15
And sometimes fall a-weeping,
So I awaked, as wise this while
As when I fell a-sleeping: —
Hey nonny nonny O!
Hey nonny nonny!
20
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order