Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume II. Love. 1904. | | | | I. Admiration | | To His Mistress | | Sir Henry Wotton (1568–1639) |
| | Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia
YOU meaner beauties of the night, | |
| That poorly satisfy our eyes | |
| More by your number than your light,— | |
| You common people of the skies, | |
| What are you when the moon shall rise? | 5 |
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| You curious chanters of the wood, | |
| That warble forth Dame Nature’s lays, | |
| Thinking your passions understood | |
| By your weak accents,—what ’s your praise | |
| When Philomel her voice shall raise? | 10 |
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| You violets that first appear, | |
| By your pure purple mantles known, | |
| Like the proud virgins of the year, | |
| As if the spring were all your own,— | |
| What are you when the rose is blown? | 15 |
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| So when my mistress shall be seen | |
| In form and beauty of her mind: | |
| By virtue first, then choice, a queen,— | |
| Tell me, if she were not designed | |
| The eclipse and glory of her kind? | 20 | | | |
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