Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Ben Jonson. 15731637188. The Triumph
SEE the Chariot at hand here of Love, | |
Wherein my Lady rideth! | |
Each that draws is a swan or a dove, | |
And well the car Love guideth. | |
As she goes, all hearts do duty | 5 |
Unto her beauty; | |
And enamour’d do wish, so they might | |
But enjoy such a sight, | |
That they still were to run by her side, | |
Through swords, through seas, whither she would ride. | 10 |
Do but look on her eyes, they do light | |
All that Love’s world compriseth! | |
Do but look on her hair, it is bright | |
As Love’s star when it riseth! | |
Do but mark, her forehead’s smoother | 15 |
Than words that soothe her; | |
And from her arch’d brows such a grace | |
Sheds itself through the face, | |
As alone there triumphs to the life | |
All the gain, all the good, of the elements’ strife. | 20 |
Have you seen but a bright lily grow | |
Before rude hands have touch’d it? | |
Have you mark’d but the fall of the snow | |
Before the soil hath smutch’d it? | |
Have you felt the wool of beaver, | 25 |
Or swan’s down ever? | |
Or have smelt o’ the bud o’ the brier, | |
Or the nard in the fire? | |
Or have tasted the bag of the bee? | |
O so white, O so soft, O so sweet is she! | 30 |