Samuel Sheppard (fl. 1646)

HEAVENLY fair Urania’s son,

Thou that dwell’st on Helicon,

Hymen, O thy brows impale,

To the bride the bridegroom hale

Take thy saffron robe and come

With sweet-flowered marjoram;

Yellow socks of woollen wear,

With a smiling look appear;

Shrill Epithalamiums sing,

Let this day with pleasure spring;

Nimbly dance; the flaming tree,

Take in that fair hand of thine.

Let good auguries combine

For the pair that now are wed;

Let their joys be nourishèd

Like a myrtle, ever green,

Ownèd by the Cyprian queen,

Who fosters it with rosy dew,

Where her nymphs their sport pursue.

Leave th’ Aonian cave behind

(Come, O come with willing mind!)

And the Thespian rocks, whence drill

Aganippe waters still.

Chastest virgins, you that are

Either for to make or mar,

Make the air with Hymen ring,

Hymen, Hymenæus sing!