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1560-1592
LIKE to Diana in her summer weed,
Girt with a crimson robe of brightest dye,
Goes fair Samela.
Whiter than be the flocks that straggling feed
When washd by Arethusa faint they lie,
Is fair Samela.
As fair Aurora in her morning grey,
Deckd with the ruddy glister of her love
Is fair Samela;
Like lovely Thetis on a calmàed day
Whenas her brightness Neptunes fancy move,
Shines fair Samela.
Her tresses gold, her eyes like glassy streams,
Her teeth are pearl, the breasts are ivory
Of fair Samela;
Her cheeks like rose and lily yield forth gleams;
Her brows bright arches framed of ebony.
Thus fair Samela
Passeth fair Venus in her bravest hue,
And Juno in the show of majesty
(For shes Samela!),
Pallas in wit,all three, if you well view,
For beauty, wit, and matchless dignity,
Yield to Samela.
AH! were she pitiful as she is fair,
Or but as mild as she is seeming so,
Then were my hopes greater than my despair,
Then all the world were heaven, nothing woe.
Ah! were her heart relenting as her hand,
That seems to melt even with the mildest touch,
Then knew I where to seat me in a land
Under wide heavens, but yet there is not such.
So as she shows she seems the budding rose,
Yet sweeter far than is an earthly flower;
Sovran of beauty, like the spray she grows;
Compassd she is with thorns and cankerd flower.
Yet were she willing to be pluckd and worn,
She would be gatherd, though she grew on thorn.
Ah! when she sings, all music else be still,
For none must be comparàed to her note;
Neer breathed such glee from Philomelas bill,
Nor from the morning-singers swelling throat.
Ah! when she riseth from her blissful bed
She comforts all the world as doth the sun,
And at her sight the nights foul vapours fled;
When she is set the gladsome day is done.
O glorious sun, imagine me the west,
Shine in my arms, and set thou in my breast!
WEEP not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;
When thou art old theres grief enough for thee.
Mothers wag, pretty boy,
Fathers sorrow, fathers joy;
When thy father first did see
Such a boy by him and me,
He was glad, I was woe;
Fortune changàed made him so,
When he left his pretty boy,
Last his sorrow, first his joy.
Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;
When thou art old theres grief enough for thee.
Streaming tears that never stint,
Like pearl-drops from a flint,
Fell by course from his eyes,
That one anothers place supplies;
Thus he grieved in every part,
Tears of blood fell from his heart,
When he left his pretty boy,
Fathers sorrow, fathers joy.
Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;
When thou art old theres grief enough for thee.
The wanton smiled, father wept,
Mother cried, baby leapt;
More he crowd, more we cried,
Nature could not sorrow hide:
He must go, he must kiss
Child and mother, baby bliss,
For he left his pretty boy,
Fathers sorrow, fathers joy.
Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee,
When thou art old theres grief enough for thee.
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