Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

John Fletcher (1579–1625)

Song (from The Two Noble Kinsmen)

[By Shakespeare and Fletcher]

ROSES, their sharp spines being gone,

Not royal in their smells alone,

But in their hue;

Maiden-pinks, of odour faint,

Daisies smell-less yet most quaint,

And sweet thyme true;

Primrose, first-born child of Ver,

Merry spring-time’s harbinger,

With her bells dim;

Oxlips in their cradles growing,

Marigolds on death-beds blowing,

Larks’-heels trim.

All, dear Nature’s children sweet,

Lie ’fore bride and bridegroom’s feet,

Blessing their sense!

Not an angel of the air,

Bird melodious or bird fair,

Be absent hence!

The crow, the slanderous cuckoo, nor

The boding raven, nor chough hoar,

Nor chattering pie,

May on our bride-house perch or sing,

Or with them any discord bring,

But from it fly!