There's not a budding boy or girl this
day

But is got up and gone to bring in May.
A deal of youth, ere this, is come
Back and with white-thorn laden home.
Some have despatch'd their cakes and

cream

Before that we have left to dream; And some have wept, and woo'd, and plighted troth,

And chose their priest, ere we can cast off sloth.

Many a green-gown has been given,
Many a kiss, both odd and even;
Many a glance, too, has been sent
From out the eye, love's firmament;

Many a jest told of the keys betraying This night, and locks pick'd, yet we 're not a-Maying.

Come, let us go while we are in our prime,
And take the harmless folly of the time.
We shall grow old apace, and die

Before we know our liberty.
Our life is short, and our days run
As fast away as does the sun;
And as a vapor or a drop of rain,
Once lost, can ne'er be found again,
So when or you or I are made
A fable, song, or fleeting shade,

All love, all liking, all delight

Lies drown'd with us in endless night. Then while time serves, and we are but decaying,

Come, my Corinna, come, let's go a-Maying.

70

UPON HER VOICE

LET but thy voice engender with the string, And angels will be born while thou dost

sing.

71

THE CAPTIV'D BEE, OR THE LITTLE FILCHER

As Julia once a-slumbering lay

It chanced a bee did fly that way,

After a dew or dew-like shower,

To tipple freely in a flower.

For some rich flower he took the lip

Of Julia, and began to sip;

But when he felt he sucked from thence

Honey and in the quintessence,

He drank so much he scarce could stir,

So Julia took the pilferer.

And thus surpris'd, as filchers use,

He thus began himself t' excuse:

"Sweet lady flower, I never brought
Hither the least one thieving thought;
But, taking those rare lips of yours
For some fresh, fragrant, luscious flowers,
I thought I might there take a taste,
Where so much syrup ran at waste.
Besides, know this: I never sting
The flower that gives me nourishing,
But with a kiss, or thanks, do pay
For honey that I bear away."
This said, he laid his little scrip
Of honey 'fore her ladyship,

And told her, as some tears did fall,
That that he took, and that was all.
At which she smiled, and bade him go
And take his bag, but thus much know:
When next he came a-pilfering so,
He should from her full lips derive
Honey enough to fill his hive.

72

ON HIMSELF

LOST to the world; lost to myself; alone Here now I rest under this marble stone, In depth of silence, heard and seen of

none.

73

THE LILY IN A CRYSTAL

You have beheld a smiling rose
When virgins' hands have drawn
O'er it a cobweb-lawn;

And here you see this lily shows,
Tomb'd in a crystal stone,
More fair in this transparent case
Than when it grew alone
And had but single grace.

You see how cream but naked is
Nor dances in the eye
Without a strawberry,

Or some fine tincture like to this,
Which draws the sight thereto,
More by that wantoning with it
Than when the paler hue
No mixture did admit.

You see how amber through the streams More gently strokes the sight

With some conceal'd delight,

Than when he darts his radiant beams

Into the boundless air;

Where either too much light his worth Doth all at once impair,

Or set it little forth.

Put purple grapes or cherries in-
To glass, and they will send

More beauty to commend

Them from that clean and subtle skin

Than if they naked stood,

And had no other pride at all

But their own flesh and blood
And tinctures natural.

Thus lily, rose, grape, cherry, cream,
And strawberry do stir

More love when they transfer
A weak, a soft, a broken beam,
Than if they should discover
At full their proper excellence,
Without some scene cast over
To juggle with the sense.

Thus let this crystal'd lily be
A rule how far to teach
Your nakedness must reach;
And that no further than we see
Those glaring colors laid

By art's wise hand, but to this end
They should obey a shade,

Lest they too far extend.

So though you 're white as swan or snow, And have the power to move

A world of men to love,

Yet when your lawns and silks shall flow,