| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | My Lady’s Presence Makes the Roses Red | | By Henry Constable (1562–1613) |
| | | MY Lady’s presence makes the Roses red, | |
| Because to see her lips they blush for shame. | |
| The Lily’s leaves, for envy, pale became, | |
| For her white hands in them this envy bred. | |
| The Marigold the leaves abroad doth spread, | 5 |
| Because the sun’s and her power is the same. | |
| The Violet of purple colour came, | |
| Dyed in the blood she made my heart to shed. | |
| In brief all flowers from her their virtue take; | |
| From her sweet breath, their sweet smells do proceed; | 10 |
| The living heat which her eyebeams doth make | |
| Warmeth the ground, and quickeneth the seed. | |
| The rain, wherewith she watereth the flowers, | |
| Falls from mine eyes, which she dissolves in showers. | | | | |
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