Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/301

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WILLIAM BROWNE

  Fear not your ships,
Nor any to oppose you save our lips;
  But come on shore,
Where no joy dies till Love hath gotten more.

For swelling waves our panting breasts,
  Where never storms arise,
Exchange, and be awhile our guests:
  For stars gaze on our eyes.
The compass Love shall hourly sing,
And as he goes about the ring,
  We will not miss
To tell each point he nameth with a kiss.
  —Then come on shore,
Where no joy dies till Love hath gotten more.

250
The Rose
AROSE, as fair as ever saw the North,
Grew in a little garden all alone;
A sweeter flower did Nature ne’er put forth,
Nor fairer garden yet was never known:
The maidens danced about it morn and noon,
And learnèd bards of it their ditties made;
The nimble fairies by the pale-faced moon
Water’d the root and kiss’d her pretty shade.
But well-a-day!—the gardener careless grew;
The maids and fairies both were kept away,
And in a drought the caterpillars threw
Themselves upon the bud and every spray.
God shield the stock! If heaven send no supplies,
The fairest blossom of the garden dies.

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