| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Love’s Emblems | | By John Fletcher (1579–1625) |
| | | NOW 1 the lusty spring is seen; | |
| Golden yellow, gaudy blue, | |
| Daintily invite the view: | |
| Everywhere on every green | |
| Roses blushing as they blow, | 5 |
| And enticing men to pull, | |
| Lilies whiter than the snow, | |
| Woodbines of sweet honey full: | |
| All love’s emblems, and all cry, | |
| “Ladies, if not plucked, we die.” | 10 |
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| Yet the lusty spring hath stay’d; | |
| Blushing red and purest white | |
| Daintily to love invite | |
| Every woman, every maid: | |
| Cherries kissing as they grow, | 15 |
| And inviting men to taste, | |
| Apples even ripe below, | |
| Winding gently to the waist: | |
| All love’s emblems, and all cry, | |
| “Ladies, if not plucked, we die.” | 20 |
| | | Note 1. From Fletcher’s Tragedy of Valentinian, produced 1618–19. [back] | | |
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