A Library of Poetry and Song: Being Choice Selections from the Best Poets

SIR CHARLES SEDLEY.

You violets that first appear,

I little thought the rising fire
By your pure purple mantles known,

Would take my rest away.
Like the proud virgins of the year,
As if the spring were all your own, -

Your charms in harmless childhood lay
What are you when the rose is blown?

Like metals in a mine;

Age from no face takes more away
So when my mistress shall be seen

Than youth concealed in thine.
In form and beauty of her mind :

But as your charms insensibly
By virtue first, then choice, a queen, -

To their perfection prest,
Tell me, if she were not designed

So love as unperceived did fly,
Th' eclipse and glory of her kind ?

And centred in my breast.
SIR HENRY WOTTON.

My passion with your beauty grew,

While Cupid at my heart
A VISION OF BEAUTY.

Still as his mother favored you

Threw a new flaming dart :
It was a beauty that I saw, —

Each gloried in their wanton part;
So pure, so perfect, as the frame.

To make a lover, he
Of all the universe were lame

Employed the utmost of his art ;
To that one figuré, could I draw,

To make a beauty, she.
Or give least line of it a law :

A skein of silk without a knot !
A fair march made without a halt !
A curious form without a fault!
A printed book without a blot !

WAITING FOR THE GRAPES.
All beauty ! - and without a spot.

Ben Jonson. That I love thee, charming maid, I a thousand

times have said,

And a thousand times more I have sworn it, WHEN IN THE CHRONICLE OF WASTED But 't is easy to be seen in the coldness of your TIME.

mien

That you doubt my affection - or scorn it. SONNET.

Ah me! When in the chronicle of wasted time I see descriptions of the fairest wights,

Not a single grain of sense is in the whole of And beauty making beautiful old rhyme,

these pretences In praise of ladies dead, and lovely knights ; For rejecting your lover's petitions ; Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty's best Had I windows in my bosom, O how gladly I'd Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow,

expose 'em ! I see their antique pen would have expressed To undo your fantastic suspicions. Even such a beauty as you master now.

Ah me! So all their praises are but prophecies Of this our time, all you prefiguring ;

You repeat I 've known you long, and you hint And, for they looked but with divining eyes,

I do you wrong, They had not skill enough your worth to sing ; | In beginning so late to pursue ye ; For we, which now behold these present days, But 't is folly to look glum because people did not Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise. come SHAKESPEARE. Up the stairs of your nursery to woo ye.

Ah me!

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But when time has swelled the grapes to a richer | Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose, style of shapes,

| Quick as her eyes, and as unfixed as those : And the sun has lent warmth to their blushes, Favors to none, to all she smiles extends : Then to cheer us and to gladden, to enchant us Oft she rejects, but never once offends. and to madden,

Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike, Is the ripe ruddy glory that rushes.

And, like the sun, they shine on all alike.
Ah me! | Yet, graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride,

Might hide her faults, if belles had faults te O, 't is then that mortals pant while they gaze on

hide; Bacchus' plant, —

If to her share some female errors fall, O, 't is then, — will my simile serve ye?

Look on her face, and you 'll forget them all. Should a damsel fair repine, though neglected like

ALEXANDER POPE, a vine ? Both erelong shall turn heads topsy-turvy.

Ah me!
IF IT BE TRUE THAT ANY BEAUTEOUS

THING.

WILLIAM MAGINN.

SHE WAS A PHANTOM OF DELIGHT.

She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely apparition, sent
To be a moment's ornament;
Her eyes as stars of twilight fair;
Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair ;
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful dawn ;
A dancing shape, an image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and waylay.
I saw her upon nearer view,
A spirit, yet a woman too!
Her household motions light and free,
And steps of virgin-liberty ;
A countenance in which did meet
Sweet records, promises as sweet ;
A creature not too bright or good
For human nature's daily food,
For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.
And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine ; .
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveller between life and death :
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill ;
A perfect woman, nobly planned
To warn, to comfort, and command ;
And yet a spirit still, and bright
With something of an angel-light.

If it be true that any beauteous thing
Raises the pure and just desire of man
From earth to God, the eternal fount of all,
Such I believe my love ; for as in her
So fair, in whom I all besides forget,
I view the gentle work of her Creator,
I have no care for any other thing,
Whilst thus I love. Nor is it marvellous,
Since the effect is not of my own power,
If the soul doth, by nature tempted forth,
Enamored through the eyes,
Repose upon the eyes which it resembleth,
And through them riseth to the Primal Love,
As to its end, and honors in admiring ;
For who adores the Maker needs must love his
work.
MICHAEL ANGELO (Italian). Translation

of J. E. TAYLOR.

THE MIGHT OF ONE FAIR FACE.

The might of one fair face sublimes my love,
For it hath weaned my heart from low desires ;
Nor death I heed, nor purgatorial fires.
Thy beauty, antepast of joys above,
Instructs me in the bliss that saints approve;
| For 0, how good, how beautiful, must be

The God that made so good a thing as thee,
So fair an image of the heavenly Dove !

W. WORDSWORTH.

BELINDA.
FROM THE "RAPE OF THE LOCK."
Ox her white breast a sparkling cross she wore,

wore Which Jews might kiss, and Infidels adore,

Forgive me if I cannot turn away
From those sweet eyes that are my earthly

heaven,
For they are guiding stars, benignly given
To tempt my footsteps to the upward way;
And if I dwell too fondly in thy sight,
I live and love in God's peculiar light.

MICHAEL ANGELO (Italian). Translation

of J. E. TAYLOR.

AT THE CHURCH GATE.

Such is her beauty as no arts

Have enriched with borrowed grace. Her high birth no pride imparts,

For she blushes in her place. Folly boasts a glorious blood, — She is noblest being good. Cautious, she knew never yet

What a wanton courtship meant; Nor speaks loud to boast her wit,

In her silence eloquent. Of herself survey she takes, But 'tween men no difference makes. She obeys with speedy will

Her grave parents' wise commands; And so innocent, that ill

She nor acts, nor understands.
Women's feet run still astray
If to ill they know the way.
She sails by that rock, the court,

Where oft virtre splits her mast;
And retiredness thinks the port,

Where her fame may anchor cast.
Virtue safely cannot sit
Where vice is enthroned for wit.
She holds that day's pleasure best

Where sin waits not on delight;
Without mask, or ball, or feast,

Sweetly spends a winter's night.
O'er that darkness whence is thrust
Prayer and sleep, oft governs lust.
She her throne makes reason climb,

While wild passions captive lie;
And each article of time,

Her pure thoughts to heaven fly;
All her vows religious be,
And she vows her love to me.

Although I enter not,
Yet round about the spot

Ofttimes I hover; .
And near the sacred gate,
With longing eyes I wait,

Expectant of her.
The minster bell tolls out
Above the city's rout,

And noise and humming ;
They've hushed the minster bell ;
The organ 'gins to swell ;

She's coming, coming!
My lady comes at last,
Timid and stepping fast,

And hastening hither,
With modest eyes downcast;
She comes, - she's here, she's past !

May Heaven go with her!
Kneel undisturbed, fair saint !
Pour out your praise or plaint

Meekly and duly ;
I will not enter there,
To sully your pure prayer

With thoughts unruly.
But suffer me to pace
Round the forbidden place,

Lingering a minute,
Like outcast spirits, who wait,
And see, through heaven's gate,
Angels within it.

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY.

VERSES WRITTEN IN AN ALBUM.

WILLIAM HABINGTON,

ANSWER TO A CHILD'S QUESTION. Do you ask what the birds say? The sparrow,

the dove, The linnet, and thrush say “I love, and I love !" In the winter they're silent, the wind is so strong; What it says I don't know, but it sings a loud

song. But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny

warm weather, And singing and loving-all come back together. But the lark is so brimful of gladness and love, The green fields below him, the blue sky above, That he sings, and he sings, and forever sings he, "I love my Love, and my Love loves me."

HERE is one leaf reserved for me,
From all thy sweet memorials free;
And here my simple song might tell
The feelings thou must guess so well.
But could I thus, within thy mind,
One little vacant corner find,
Where no impression yet is seen,
Where no memorial yet has been,
0, it should be my sweetest care
To write my name forever there !

T. MOORE

GO, LOVELY ROSE. 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.

SAMUEL COLERIDGE.

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.

Guard well thy soul, beloved ;

Truth, dwelling there,
Shall shadow forth, beloved,

Her image rare.
Then shall I deem, beloved,

That thou art she ;
And there 'll be naught, beloved,

Fairer than thee.

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.

ANONYMOUS.

HER LIKENESS.

Then die, that she
The common fate of all things rare

May read in thee;
How small a part of time they share,
That are so wondrous, sweet, and fair.

EDMUND WALLER.

STANZA ADDED BY HENRY KIRKE WHITE.

A GIRL, who has so many wilful ways
She would have caused Job's patience to for.

sake him ;
Yet is so rich in all that's girlhood's praise,
Did Job himself upon her goodness gaze,

A little better she would surely make him. Yet is this girl I sing in naught uncommon,

And very far from angel yet, I trów. Her faults, her sweetnesses, are purely human ; Yet she's more lovable as simple woman

Than any one diviner that I know.

Yet, though thou fade, From thy dead leaves let fragrance rise ;

And teach the maid, That goodness Time's rude hand defies, That virtue lives when beauty dies.

FAIRER THAN THEE.

Therefore I wish that she may safely keep

This womanhede, and change not, only grow; From maid to matron, youth to age, may creep, And in perennial blessedness, still reap On every hand of that which she doth sow.

DINAH MARIA MULOCK.

FAIRER than thee, beloved,

Fairer than thee !-There is one thing, beloved,

Fairer than thee.

BLACK AND BLUE EYES.

Not the glad sun, beloved,

Bright though it beams; Not the green earth, beloved,

Silver with streams ;

Not the gay birds, beloved,

Happy and free :
Yet there's one thing, beloved,

Fairer than thee.
Not the clear day, beloved,

Glowing with light;
Not (fairer still, beloved)

Star-crownéd night.
Truth in her might, beloved,

Grand in her sway ;
Truth with her eyes, beloved,

Clearer than day.
Holy and pure, beloved,

Spotless and free,
Is the one thing, beloved,

Fairer than thee.

The brilliant black eye

May in triumph let fly All its darts without caring who feels 'em ;

But the soft eye of blue,

Though it scatter wounds too,
Is much better pleased when it heals 'em !

Dear Fanny !
The black eye may say,

“Come and worship my ray;
By adoring, perhaps you may move me !"

But the blue eye, half hid,

Says, from under its lid,
“I love, and am yours, if you love me !"

Dear Fanny !
Then tell me, O why,

In that lovely blue eye,
Not a charm of its tint I discover ;

Or why should you wear

The only blue pair
That ever said “No” to a lover ?
Dear Fanny !

THOMAS MOORE

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