The Storm-Flower

THE STORM-FLOWER BLOOMS BY THE OUTER MOAT
OF MY CASTLE OF LOVE, WHILE THE PERILOUS RAIN
SHRIEKS AND BEATS AT THE GRANITE WALLS ,
AT THE DOORS, AT EACH THICK WINDOW-PANE
BUT IN THE KEEP, STILL, STILL, AND DEEP
MY SWEET LOVE WAITS IN IVORY ROOMS :
SHE WEARS NEW SILK FROM FAIRY LOOMS :
OUR LIPS BURN SWEETLY, WITHOUT FEAR :
OUR NEST IS STILL. I HEAR HER SIGH.—
AND WHAT CARE I. IF THE STORM-FLOWER BLOOMS!

I love the little pond to mark at spring

I love the little pond to mark at spring
When frogs & toads are croaking round its brink
When blackbirds yellow bills gin first to sing
& green woodpecker rotten trees to clink
I love to see the cattle muse & drink
& water crinkle to the rude march wind
While two ash dotterels flourish on its brink
Bearing key bunches children run to find
& water buttercups they're forced to leave behind.

My Love She Is a Modest Girl

My love she wore a muslin cap and trim[m] ed wi' ribbons blue
What time the trees were full o' sap and meadows cowslips new
In meadows and on meadow banks in baulks and clover too
The white horse daisy's stand in ranks all silvered wi' the dew

My love she wore a pleasant gown and owned a rosy face
The prettiest girl o' half the town the finest i' the place
Her waist was sweet and sweet her size fleshy and fair not tall
Bright as the milkmaids were her eyes her neck white as the wall

Age Unfit for Love

Maidens tell me I am old;
Let me in my Glasse behold
Whether smooth or not I be,
Or if haire remaines to me.
Well, or be't or be't not so,
This for certainty I know;
Ill it fits old men to play,
When that Death bids come away.

The One I Love

The one I love
Is south of the great lakes
What shall I send you?
A tortoise shell hatpin with twin pearls,
With jade I'll braid and plait it.
I hear that you have another love—
I will break it, smash and burn it,
Smash and burn it,
Face into the wind, scatter its ashes.
From this day on
Nevermore will I love you.
My love for you is severed
Cocks crow, dogs bark.
My brother and his wife must find out.
Alas! Oh my!
Autumn winds sough, sough Dawn Wind hastens
The east at a blink whitening will find out!

Song

One sunny time in May
When lambs were sporting,
The sap ran in the spray
And I went courting,
And all the apple-boughs
Were bright with blossom,
I picked an early rose
For my love's bosom.

And then I met her friend,
Down by the water,
Who cried, “She's met her end,
That grey-eyed daughter,
That voice of hers is stilled.
Her beauty broken.”
Oh, me! my love is killed,
My love unspoken.

She was too sweet, too dear,
To die so cruel.
O Death, why leave me here
And take my jewel?

Oh, turn thy bow

Oh , turn thy bow,
Thy power we feel and know,
Fair Cupid, turn away thy bow:
They be those golden arrows,
Bring ladies all their sorrows,
And till there be more truth in men,
Never shoot at maid again.
Fountain-heads, and pathless groves,
Places which pale passion loves:
Moonlight walks, when all the fowls
Are warmly housed, save bats and owls;
A midnight bell, a parting groan,
These are the sounds we feed upon;
Then stretch our bones in a still gloomy valley,
Nothing's so dainty sweet as lovely melancholy.

Melancholy

Hence, all you vain delights,
As short as are the nights
Wherein you spend your folly:
There's nought in this life sweet
If man were wise to see't,
But our melancholy,
O sweetest Melancholy!
Welcome, folded arms, and fixéd eyes,
A sigh that piercing mortifies,
A look that's fasten'd to the ground,
A tongue chain'd up without a sound!
Fountain heads and pathless groves,
Places which pale passion loves!
Moonlight walks, when all the fowls
Are warmly housed save bats and owls!
A midnight bell, a parting groan!

Old Love

You must be very old, Sir Giles,”
I said; he said: “Yea, very old:”
Whereat the mournfullest of smiles
Creased his dry skin with many a fold.

“They hammer'd out my basnet point
Into a round salade,” he said,
“The basnet being quite out of joint,
Natheless the salade rasps my head.”

He gazed at the great fire awhile:
“And you are getting old, Sir John;”
(He said this with that cunning smile
That was most sad) “we both wear on,

“Knights come to court and look at me,
With eyebrows up, except my lord

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