Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
Amoretti and EpithalamionSonnet LXXVII. Was it a dream, or did I see it plain
Edmund Spenser (1552?1599)W
A goodly table of pure ivory,
All spread with junkets, fit to entertain
The greatest Prince with pompous royalty:
’Mongst which, there in a silver dish did lie
Two golden apples of unvalued price;
Far passing those which Hercules came by,
Or those which Atalanta did entice;
Exceeding sweet, yet void of sinful vice;
That many sought, yet none could ever taste;
Sweet fruit of pleasure, brought from Paradise
By Love himself, and in his garden placed.
Her breast that table was, so richly spread;
My thoughts the guests, which would thereon have fed.