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Home  »  Lope de Vega (1562–1635)

Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888.

Not Winter Crystal

Lope de Vega (1562–1635)

Translated by Henry Richard, Lord Holland

NOT winter crystal ever was more clear

That checks the current of the mountain stream;

Not high wrought ebony can blacker seem,

Nor bluer doth the flax its blossom rear;

Not yellower doth the eastern gold appear;

Nor purer can arise the scented steam

Of amber, which luxurious men esteem;

Nor brighter scarlet doth the sea-shell bear;

Than in the forehead, eye-brows, eyes, and hair,

The breath, and lips, of my most beauteous queen,

Are seen to dwell on earth, in face divine:—

And since like all together is my Fair,

Lifeless elsewhere, alive in her are seen

Ice, Ebony, Flax, Gold, Amber, and Carmine.