Delphi Poetry Anthology: The World's Greatest Poems (Delphi Poets Series Book 50) (113 page)
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Authors: Homer,William Shakespeare
The Glories of our Blood and State
James Shirley (1596–1666)
THE GLORIES of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:
Sceptre and Crown
5
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill:
10
But their strong nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still:
Early or late
They stoop to fate,
And must give up their murmuring breath
15
When they, pale captives, creep to death.
The garlands wither on your brow;
Then boast no more your mighty deeds;
Upon Death’s purple altar now
See where the victor-victim bleeds:
20
Your heads must come
To the cold tomb;
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet, and blossom in their dust.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
James Shirley (1596–1666)
VICTORIOUS men of earth, no more
Proclaim how wide your empires are;
Though you bind-in every shore
And your triumphs reach as far
As night or day,
5
Yet you, proud monarchs, must obey
And mingle with forgotten ashes, when
Death calls ye to the crowd of common men.
Devouring Famine, Plague, and War,
Each able to undo mankind,
10
Death’s servile emissaries are;
Nor to these alone confined,
He hath at will
More quaint and subtle ways to kill;
A smile or kiss, as he will use the art,
15
Shall have the cunning skill to break a heart.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Thomas Carew (1595–1639)
HE that loves a rosy cheek
Or a coral lip admires,
Or from star-like eyes doth seek
Fuel to maintain his fires;
As old Time makes these decay,
5
So his flames must waste away.
But a smooth and steadfast mind,
Gentle thoughts, and calm desires,
Hearts with equal love combined,
Kindle never-dying fires: —
10
Where these are not, I despise
Lovely cheeks or lips or eyes.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Thomas Carew (1595–1639)
ASK me no more where Jove bestows,
When June is past, the fading rose;
For in your beauty’s orient deep
These flowers, as in their causes, sleep.
Ask me no more whither do stray
5
The golden atoms of the day;
For in pure love did heaven prepare
Those powders to enrich your hair.
Ask me no more whither doth haste
The nightingale when May is past;
10
For in your sweet dividing throat
She winters and keeps warm her note.
Ask me no more where those stars ‘light
That downwards fall in dead of night;
For in your eyes they sit, and there
15
Fixèd become as in their sphere.
Ask me no more if east or west
The Phœnix builds her spicy nest;
For unto you at last she flies,
And in your fragrant bosom dies.
20
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Thomas Carew (1595–1639)
KNOW, Celia, since thou art so proud,
’Twas I that gave thee thy renown;
Thou hadst in the forgotten crowd
Of common beauties lived unknown,
Had not my verse extoll’d thy name,
5
And with it imp’d the wings of Fame.
That killing power is none of thine:
I gave it to thy voice and eyes;
Thy sweets, thy graces, all are mine;
Thou art my star, shin’st in my skies;
10
Then dart not from thy borrowed sphere
Lightning on him that fixed thee there.
Tempt me with such affrights no more,
Lest what I made I uncreate;
Let fools thy mystic forms adore,
15
I know thee in thy mortal state:
Wise poets, that wrapt Truth in tales,
Knew her themselves through all her veils.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Thomas Carew (1595–1639)
GIVE me more love, or more disdain;
The torrid or the frozen zone
Bring equal ease unto my pain;
The temperate affords me none:
Either extreme, of love or hate,
5
Is sweeter than a calm estate.
Give me a storm; if it be love —
Like Danaë in that golden shower,
I’ll swim in pleasure; if it prove
Disdain, that torrent will devour
10
My vulture hopes; and he’s possessed
Of heaven, that’s from hell released.
Then crown my joys, or cure my pain;
Give me more love, or more disdain.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Sir John Suckling (1609–1642)
OUT upon it, I have loved
Three whole days together!
And am like to love three more,
If it prove fair weather.
Time shall moult away his wings
5
Ere he shall discover
In the whole wide world again
Such a constant lover.
But the spite on ‘t is, no praise
Is due at all to me:
10
Love with me had made no stays,
Had it any been but she.
Had it any been but she,
And that very face,
There had been at least ere this
15
A dozen dozen in her place.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Sir John Suckling (1609–1642)
WHY so pale and wan, fond lover?
Prythee, why so pale?
Will, if looking well can’t move her,
Looking ill prevail?
Prythee, why so pale?
5
Why so dull and mute, young sinner?
Prythee, why so mute?
Will, when speaking well can’t win her,
Saying nothing do’t?
Prythee, why so mute?
10
Quit, quit, for shame! this will not move,
This cannot take her;
If of herself she will not love,
Nothing can make her:
The devil take her!
15
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Sir William D’Avenant (1606–1668)
THE LARK now leaves his wat’ry nest,
And climbing shakes his dewy wings.
He takes this window for the East,
And to implore your light he sings —
Awake, awake! the morn will never rise
5
Till she can dress her beauty at your eyes.
The merchant bows unto the seaman’s star,
The ploughman from the sun his season takes;
But still the lover wonders what they are
Who look for day before his mistress wakes.
10
Awake, awake! break thro’ your veils of lawn!
Then draw your curtains, and begin the dawn!
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
