Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Robert Greene. 156092103. Samela
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 wash’d by Arethusa faint they lie, | 5 |
Is fair Samela. | |
As fair Aurora in her morning grey, | |
Deck’d with the ruddy glister of her love | |
Is fair Samela; | |
Like lovely Thetis on a calmèd day | 10 |
Whenas her brightness Neptune’s fancy move, | |
Shines fair Samela. | |
Her tresses gold, her eyes like glassy streams, | |
Her teeth are pearl, the breasts are ivory | |
Of fair Samela; | 15 |
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 | 20 |
(For she ‘s Samela!), | |
Pallas in wit,—all three, if you well view, | |
For beauty, wit, and matchless dignity, | |
Yield to Samela. |