Delphi Poetry Anthology: The World's Greatest Poems (Delphi Poets Series Book 50) (85 page)

Easter

Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)

MOST glorious Lord of Lyfe! that, on this day,
Didst make Thy triumph over death and sin;
And, having harrowd hell, didst bring away
Captivity thence captive, us to win:
This joyous day, deare Lord, with joy begin;
  
5
And grant that we, for whom thou diddest dye,
Being with Thy deare blood clene washt from sin,
May live for ever in felicity!
And that Thy love we weighing worthily,
May likewise love Thee for the same againe;
  
10
And for Thy sake, that all lyke deare didst buy,
With love may one another entertayne!
 
So let us love, deare Love, lyke as we ought,
 
— Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.

List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

List of Poets in Alphabetical Order

What Guile Is This?

Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)

WHAT guile is this, that those her golden tresses
She doth attire under a net of gold;
And with sly skill so cunningly them dresses,
That which is gold or hair may scarce be told?
Is it that men’s frail eyes, which gaze too bold,
  
5
She may entangle in that golden snare;
And, being caught, may craftily enfold
Their weaker hearts, which are not well aware?
Take heed, therefore, mine eyes, how ye do stare
Henceforth too rashly on that guileful net,
  
10
In which, if ever ye entrappèd are,
Out of her bands ye by no means shall get.
 
Fondness it were for any, being free,
 
To cover fetters, though they golden be.

List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

List of Poets in Alphabetical Order

Fair Is My Love

Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)

FAIR is my love, when her fair golden hairs
With the loose wind ye waving chance to mark;
Fair, when the rose in her red cheeks appears;
Or in her eyes the fire of love does spark.
Fair, when her breast, like a rich-laden bark,
  
5
With precious merchandise she forth doth lay;
Fair, when that cloud of pride, which oft doth dark
Her goodly light, with smiles she drives away.
But fairest she, when so she doth display
The gate with pearls and rubies richly dight;
  
10
Through which her words so wise do make their way
To bear the message of her gentle sprite.
 
The rest be works of nature’s wonderment:
 
But this the work of heart’s astonishment.

List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

List of Poets in Alphabetical Order

So Oft as I Her Beauty do Behold

Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)

SO oft as I her beauty do behold,
And therewith do her cruelty compare,
I marvel of what substance was the mould,
The which her made at once so cruel fair,
Not earth, for her high thoughts more heavenly are;
  
5
Not water, for her love doth burn like fire;
Not air, for she is not so light or rare;
Not fire, for she doth freeze with faint desire.
Then needs another element inquire
Whereof she mote be made — that is, the sky;
  
10
For to the heaven her haughty looks aspire,
And eke her mind is pure immortal high.
 
Then, sith to heaven ye likened are the best,
 
Be like in mercy as in all the rest.

List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

List of Poets in Alphabetical Order

Rudely Thou Wrongest My Dear Heart’s Desire

Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)

RUDELY thou wrongest my dear heart’s desire,
In finding fault with her too portly pride:
The thing which I do most in her admire,
Is of the world unworthy most envied;
For in those lofty looks is close implied
  
5
Scorn of base things, and ‘sdain of foul dishonour,
Threatening rash eyes which gaze on her so wide,
That loosely they ne dare to look upon her.
Such pride is praise, such portliness is honour,
That boldened innocence bears in her eyes;
  
10
And her fair countenance, like a goodly banner,
Spreads in defiance of all enemies.
 
Was never in this world aught worthy tried,
 
Without some spark of such self-pleasing pride.

List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

List of Poets in Alphabetical Order

One Day I Wrote Her Name Upon the Strand

Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)

ONE day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washèd it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide and made my pains his prey.
Vain man (said she) that dost in vain assay
  
5
A mortal thing so to immortalise;
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eke my name be wipèd out likewise.
Not so (quod I); let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame;
  
10
My verse your virtues rare shall eternise,
And in the heavens write your glorious name:
 
Where, when as Death shall all the world subdue,
 
Our love shall live, and later life renew.

List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

List of Poets in Alphabetical Order

Like as the Culver, on the Bared Bough

Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)

LIKE as the culver, on the barèd bough,
Sits mourning for the absence of her mate;
And, in her songs, sends many a wishful vow
For his return that seems to linger late:
So I alone, now left disconsolate,
  
5
Mourn to myself the absence of my love;
And, wandering here and there all desolate,
Seek with my plaints to match that mournful dove
Ne joy of aught that under heaven doth hove,
Can comfort me, but her own joyous sight
  
10
Whose sweet aspect both God and man can move,
In her unspotted pleasance to delight.
 
Dark is my day, whiles her fair light I miss,
 
And dead my life that wants such lively bliss.

List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

List of Poets in Alphabetical Order

William Habington

List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

List of Poets in Alphabetical Order

To Roses in the Bosom of Castara

William Habington (1605–1654)

YE blushing virgins happy are
 
In the chaste nunnery of her breasts —
For he’d profane so chaste a fair,
 
Whoe’er should call them Cupid’s nests.

Transplanted thus how bright ye grow!
  
5
 
How rich a perfume do ye yield!
In some close garden cowslips so
 
Are sweeter than i’ th’ open field.

In those white cloisters live secure
 
From the rude blasts of wanton breath! —
10
Each hour more innocent and pure,
 
Till you shall wither into death.

Then that which living gave you room,
 
Your glorious sepulchre shall be.
There wants no marble for a tomb
  
15
 
Whose breast hath marble been to me.

List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

List of Poets in Alphabetical Order

Nox Nocti Indicat Scientiam

William Habington (1605–1654)

WHEN I survey the bright
 
Celestial sphere;
So rich with jewels hung, that Night
 
Doth like an Ethiop bride appear:

 
My soul her wings doth spread
  
5
  
And heavenward flies,
Th’ Almighty’s mysteries to read
 
In the large volume of the skies.

 
For the bright firmament
  
Shoots forth no flame
  
10
So silent, but is eloquent
 
In speaking the Creator’s name.

 
No unregarded star
  
Contracts its light
Into so small a character,
  
15
 
Removed far from our human sight,

 
But if we steadfast look
  
We shall discern
In it, as in some holy book,
 
How man may heavenly knowledge learn.
  
20

 
It tells the conqueror
  
That far-stretch’d power,
Which his proud dangers traffic for,
 
Is but the triumph of an hour:

 
That from the farthest North,
  
25
  
Some nation may,
Yet undiscover’d, issue forth,
 
And o’er his new-got conquest sway:

 
Some nation yet shut in
 
 
With hills of ice
  
30
May be let out to scourge his sin,
 
Till they shall equal him in vice.

 
And then they likewise shall
  
Their ruin have;
For as yourselves your empires fall,
  
35
 
And every kingdom hath a grave.

 
Thus those celestial fires,
  
Though seeming mute,
The fallacy of our desires
 
And all the pride of life confute: —
40

 
For they have watch’d since first
  
The World had birth:
And found sin in itself accurst,
 
And nothing permanent on Earth.

List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

List of Poets in Alphabetical Order