That thou, far fairer than a flower, should'st hide From too familiar sight thy beauty's wealth, And give it unto one whose long-tried heart May claim a prize so rich. Smile, Lady mine, And though thou art so passing fair, yet deign To imitate the lily-bells-and I Will shelter thee from every unkind breath, And fold thee close in true and faithful love, E'en as those leaves the flowers. Oberon. Puck. PANSIES; OR LOVE IN IDLENESS. Ophelia. My gentle Puck, come hither: thou remember'st And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, That the rude sea grew civil at her song, And certain stars shot madly from their spheres, I remember- At a fair vestal, throned by the west; And loosed his love shaft smartly from his bow, As it should pierce an hundred thousand hearts. But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft Quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon And the imperial votress pass'd on In maiden meditation, fancy free; Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell : It fell upon a little western flower Before milk white, now purple with Love's wound And maidens call it Love in idleness. SHAKSPEARE. There's rosemary-that's for remembrance; 'pray you, love, remember and there is Pansies, that's for thoughts. Laertes. A document in madness-thoughts and remembrance fitted. MOST strangely true and beautiful hath grown The fancy of that line-PANSIES for thoughts, IBID. |