My shroud of white, stuck all with yew, O prepare it!
My part of death no one so true
Not a flower, not a flower sweet On my black coffin let there be strown; Not a friend, not a friend greet
My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown: A thousand thousand sighs to save, Lay me, O where
Sad true lover never find my grave, To weep there.
Fear no more the heat o' the sun Nor the furious winter's rages; Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone and ta'en thy wages: Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
Fear no more the frown o' the great, Thou art past the tyrant's stroke; Care no more to clothe and eat ;
To thee the reed is as the oak: The sceptre, learning, physic, must All follow this, and come to dust.
Fear no more the lightning flash
Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finish'd joy and moan: All lovers young, all lovers must Consign to thee, and come to dust.
Full fathom five thy father lies: Of his bones are coral made; Those are pearls that were his eyes: Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange; Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell : Hark! now I hear them,-
Call for the robin-redbreast and the wren, Since o'er shady groves they hover And with leaves and flowers do cover The friendless bodies of unburied men. Call unto his funeral dole
The ant, the field-mouse, and the mole
To rear him hillocks that shall keep him warm And (when gay tombs are robb'd) sustain no harm ; But keep the wolf far thence, that's foe to men, For with his nails he'll dig them up again.
If Thou survive my well-contented day When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover, And shalt by fortune once more re-survey These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover; Compare them with the bettering of the time, And though they be outstripp'd by every pen,
Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme Exceeded by the height of happier men.
O then vouchsafe me but this loving thought- 'Had my friend's muse grown with this growing age, A dearer birth than this his love had brought, To march in ranks of better equipage :
But since he died, and poets better prove, Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love.'
No longer mourn for me when I am dead Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell Give warning to the world, that I am fled From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell; Nay, if you read this line, remember not The hand that writ it; for I love you so,
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot If thinking on me then should make you woe.
O if, I say, you look upon this verse When I perhaps compounded am with clay, Do not so much as my poor name rehearse, But let your love even with my life decay;
Lest the wise world should look into your moan, And mock you with me after I am gone.
Tell me where is Fancy bred, Or in the heart, or in the head? How begot, how nourished? Reply, reply.
It is engender'd in the eyes, With gazing fed; and Fancy dies In the cradle where it lies: Let us all ring fancy's knell ; I'll begin it,-Ding, dong, bell. -Ding, dong, bell.
Cupid and my Campaspe play'd At cards for kisses; Cupid paid: He stakes his quiver, bow, and arrows, His mother's doves, and team of sparrows; Loses them too; then down he throws The coral of his lip, the rose
Growing on's cheek (but none knows how); With these, the crystal of his brow, And then the dimple on his chin; All these did my Campaspe win : At last he set her both his eyes- She won, and Cupid blind did rise.
O Love! has she done this to thee? What shall, alas! become of me? 7. Lylye
Pack, clouds, away, and welcome day, With night we banish sorrow; Sweet air blow soft, mount larks aloft To give my Love good-morrow! Wings from the wind to please her mind Notes from the lark I'll borrow; Bird prune thy wing, nightingale sing, To give my Love good-morrow;
To give my Love good-morrow Notes from them both I'll borrow.
Wake from thy nest, Robin-red-breast, Sing birds in every furrow; And from each hill, let music shrill Give my fair Love good-morrow! Blackbird and thrush in every bush, Stare, linnet, and cock-sparrow ! You pretty elves, amongst yourselves Sing my fair Love good-morrow; To give my Love good-morrow Sing birds in every furrow!
Calm was the day, and through the trembling air Sweet-breathing Zephyrus did softly play- A gentle spirit, that lightly did delay
Hot Titan's beams, which then did glister fair; When I, (whom sullen care,
Through discontent of my long fruitless stay In princes' court, and expectation vain Of idle hopes, which still do fly away Like empty shadows, did afflict my brain) Walk'd forth to ease my pain
Along the shore of silver-streaming Thames; Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems, Was painted all with variable flowers, And all the meads adorn'd with dainty gems Fit to deck maidens' bowers,
And crown their paramours
Against the bridal day, which is not long :
Sweet Thames! run softly, till I end my song.
There in a meadow by the river's side A flock of nymphs I chanced to espy, All lovely daughters of the flood thereby, With goodly greenish locks all loose untied As each had been a bride;
And each one had a little wicker basket Made of fine twigs, entrailéd curiously,
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