Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
Abraham Cowley (1618–1667)Extracts from Anacreontiques: The Swallow
F
So early at my window do
With thy tuneless serenade?
Well ’t had been had Tereus made
Thee as dumb as Philomel;
There his knife had done but well.
In thy undiscovered nest,
Thou dost all the winter rest,
And dreamest o’er thy summer joys
Free from the stormy season’s noise:
Free from th’ ill thou ’st done to me,
Who disturbs or seeks out thee?
Hadst thou all the charming notes
Of the wood’s poetic throats,
All thy art could never pay
What thou ’st ta’en from me away;
Cruel bird, thou ’st ta’en away
A dream out of my arms to-day,
A dream that ne’er must equall’d be
By all that waking eyes may see.
Thou this damage to repair,
Nothing half so sweet or fair,
Nothing half so good canst bring,
Though men say, thou bring’st the spring.