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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  188. The Triumph

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Ben Jonson. 1573–1637

188. 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