Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume II. Love. 1904. | | | | I. Admiration | | Portia’s Picture | | William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | From “The Merchant of Venice,” Act III. Sc. 2.
FAIR Portia’s counterfeit? What demi-god | |
| Hath come so near creation? Move these eyes? | |
| Or whether, riding on the balls of mine, | |
| Seem they in motion? Here are severed lips, | |
| Parted with sugar breath; so sweet a bar | 5 |
| Should sunder such sweet friends. Here in her hairs | |
| The painter plays the spider; and hath woven | |
| A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men, | |
| Faster than gnats in cobwebs: but her eyes!— | |
| How could he see to do them? having made one, | 10 |
| Methinks it should have power to steal both his, | |
| And leave itself unfurnished. | | | | |
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