Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. I. Early Poetry: Chaucer to Donne

Robert Greene (1558–1592)

Samela

LIKE to Diana in her summer weed,

Girt with a crimson robe of brightest dye,

Goes fair Samela;

Whiter than be the flocks that straggling feed,

When washed by Arethusa faint they lie,

Is fair Samela;

As fair Aurora in her morning grey,

Decked with the ruddy glister of her love,

Is fair Samela;

Like lovely Thetis on a calmèd day,

When as her brightness Neptune’s fancy move,

Shines fair Samela;

Her tresses gold, her eyes like glassy streams,

Her teeth are pearl, the breasts are ivory

Of fair Samela;

Her cheeks, like rose and lily yield forth gleams,

Her brow’s bright arches framed of ebony;

Thus fair Samela

Passeth fair Venus in her bravest hue,

And Juno in the show of majesty,

For she’s Samela,

Pallas in wit; all three, if you well view,

For beauty, wit, and matchless dignity

Yield to Samela.