The Flower And The Leaf: Or, The Lady In The Arbour.[1] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A AABCDDEEEFFGHIIJJKK IILLMMNNOOJJJ PPIIIQQRRSSTTUUVVWXU U IIYYYYYYTTYYTTZZIIYY TTYYA2B2OOC2C2YYNRTT LLYYYYD2D2JJE2E2 NNE2F2YYOOYYEG2 YYPPYYH2I2WWRRIIYYYY KKJ2BYYYYZSA2A2YY G2JYYXWXYYC2K2SSYYYY WL2LLYYYYL2L2YYTTT SSYYSSXWF2E2YYYYPPEG 2G2KKYY YYYYEEC2C2 M2L2NNBJ2LLIINNYY KKL2N2YYYYYO2O2OOL2W AA2LLYYYYYYE2E2L2L2Y Y YYYYYYP2P2Q2Q2 YYL2L2I2I2YYYTT YYL2WYYYYR2S2YYYYYT2 T2YYYYT2T2IIYYYYYLLY Y YYYYYYYYYJJM2L2YYYYU 2D2YYYOOP2P2 YYYYYY TTTE2E2YYTTWJYYL2L2Y YYYRIYYIIYYTTG2G2 IINNYYYG2G2G2G2TTDDN NTTG2G2V2W2TTYYSSG2E 2G2G2R2R2TTYYYYR2S2G 2G2YYYYYY YYTTYYTTYYYYG2G2 NNIIYYYY YYG2G2X2X2YYTTTTII E2E2YYYYKKYYIIG2E2Y2 Z2YYIIIE2E2YYYYG2G2I ITTYYYY YYSSDDYYTTYYG2G2A3B3 YYYYIIIYYG2G2G2G2G2G 2 TTTTG2G2 P2P2C3C3YYYTTTTNG2YY D3E3TTYYYTTG2N TTC3C3TTF3F3TTG2G2G2 G2G2IIYYYYYIIE2E2TTS STTYYYYY P2P2E2E2YYIIG2G2D3G3 TT IIIYY P2P2YYA VISION | A |
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Now turning from the wintry signs the sun | A |
His course exalted through the Ram had run | A |
And whirling up the skies his chariot drove | B |
Through Taurus and the lightsome realms of love | C |
Where Venus from her orb descends in showers | D |
To glad the ground and paint the fields with flowers | D |
When first the tender blades of grass appear | E |
And buds that yet the blast of Eurus fear | E |
Stand at the door of life and doubt to clothe the year | E |
Till gentle heat and soft repeated rains | F |
Make the green blood to dance within their veins | F |
Then at their call embolden'd out they come | G |
And swell the gems and burst the narrow room | H |
Broader and broader yet their blooms display | I |
Salute the welcome sun and entertain the day | I |
Then from their breathing souls the sweets repair | J |
To scent the skies and purge the unwholesome air | J |
Joy spreads the heart and with a general song | K |
Spring issues out and leads the jolly months along | K |
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In that sweet season as in bed I lay | I |
And sought in sleep to pass the night away | I |
I turn'd my weary side but still in vain | L |
Though full of youthful health and void of pain | L |
Cares I had none to keep me from my rest | M |
For love had never enter'd in my breast | M |
I wanted nothing fortune could supply | N |
Nor did she slumber till that hour deny | N |
I wonder'd then but after found it true | O |
Much joy had dried away the balmy dew | O |
Seas would be pools without the brushing air | J |
To curl the waves and sure some little care | J |
Should weary nature so to make her want repair | J |
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When Chanticleer the second watch had sung | P |
Scorning the scorner sleep from bed I sprung | P |
And dressing by the moon in loose array | I |
Pass'd out in open air preventing day | I |
And sought a goodly grove as fancy led my way | I |
Straight as a line in beauteous order stood | Q |
Of oaks unshorn a venerable wood | Q |
Fresh was the grass beneath and every tree | R |
At distance planted in a due degree | R |
Their branching arms in air with equal space | S |
Stretch'd to their neighbours with a long embrace | S |
And the new leaves on every bough were seen | T |
Some ruddy colour'd some of lighter green | T |
The painted birds companions of the spring | U |
Hopping from spray to spray were heard to sing | U |
Both eyes and ears received a like delight | V |
Enchanting music and a charming sight | V |
On Philomel I fix'd my whole desire | W |
And listen'd for the queen of all the quire | X |
Fain would I hear her heavenly voice to sing | U |
And wanted yet an omen to the spring | U |
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Attending long in vain I took the way | I |
Which through a path but scarcely printed lay | I |
In narrow mazes oft it seem'd to meet | Y |
And look'd as lightly press'd by fairy feet | Y |
Wandering I walk'd alone for still methought | Y |
To some strange end so strange a path was wrought | Y |
At last it led me where an arbour stood | Y |
The sacred receptacle of the wood | Y |
This place unmark'd though oft I walk'd the green | T |
In all my progress I had never seen | T |
And seized at once with wonder and delight | Y |
Gazed all around me new to the transporting sight | Y |
'Twas bench'd with turf and goodly to be seen | T |
The thick young grass arose in fresher green | T |
The mound was newly made no sight could pass | Z |
Betwixt the nice partitions of the grass | Z |
The well united sods so closely lay | I |
And all around the shades defended it from day | I |
For sycamores with eglantine were spread | Y |
A hedge about the sides a covering overhead | Y |
And so the fragrant brier was wove between | T |
The sycamore and flowers were mixed with green | T |
That nature seem'd to vary the delight | Y |
And satisfied at once the smell and sight | Y |
The master workman of the bower was known | A2 |
Through fairy lands and built for Oberon | B2 |
Who twining leaves with such proportion drew | O |
They rose by measure and by rule they grew | O |
No mortal tongue can half the beauty tell | C2 |
For none but hands divine could work so well | C2 |
Both roof and sides were like a parlour made | Y |
A soft recess and a cool summer shade | Y |
The hedge was set so thick no foreign eye | N |
The persons placed within it could espy | R |
But all that pass'd without with ease was seen | T |
As if nor fence nor tree was placed between | T |
'Twas border'd with a field and some was plain | L |
With grass and some was sow'd with rising grain | L |
That now the dew with spangles deck'd the ground | Y |
A sweeter spot of earth was never found | Y |
I look'd and look'd and still with new delight | Y |
Such joy my soul such pleasures fill'd my sight | Y |
And the fresh eglantine exhaled a breath | D2 |
Whose odours were of power to raise from death | D2 |
Nor sullen discontent nor anxious care | J |
Even though brought thither could inhabit there | J |
But thence they fled as from their mortal foe | E2 |
For this sweet place could only pleasure know | E2 |
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Thus as I mused I cast aside my eye | N |
And saw a medlar tree was planted nigh | N |
The spreading branches made a goodly show | E2 |
And full of opening blooms was every bough | F2 |
A goldfinch there I saw with gaudy pride | Y |
Of painted plumes that hopp'd from side to side | Y |
Still pecking as she pass'd and still she drew | O |
The sweets from every flower and suck'd the dew | O |
Sufficed at length she warbled in her throat | Y |
And tuned her voice to many a merry note | Y |
But indistinct and neither sweet nor clear | E |
Yet such as soothed my soul and pleased my ear | G2 |
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Her short performance was no sooner tried | Y |
When she I sought the nightingale replied | Y |
So sweet so shrill so variously she sung | P |
That the grove echoed and the valleys rung | P |
And I so ravish'd with her heavenly note | Y |
I stood entranced and had no room for thought | Y |
But all o'er power'd with ecstasy of bliss | H2 |
Was in a pleasing dream of paradise | I2 |
At length I waked and looking round the bower | W |
Search'd every tree and pry'd on every flower | W |
If any where by chance I might espy | R |
The rural poet of the melody | R |
For still methought she sung not far away | I |
At last I found her on a laurel spray | I |
Close by my side she sat and fair in sight | Y |
Full in a line against her opposite | Y |
Where stood with eglantine the laurel twined | Y |
And both their native sweets were well conjoin'd | Y |
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On the green bank I sat and listen'd long | K |
Sitting was more convenient for the song | K |
Nor till her lay was ended could I move | J2 |
But wish'd to dwell for ever in the grove | B |
Only methought the time too swiftly pass'd | Y |
And every note I fear'd would be the last | Y |
My sight and smell and hearing were employ'd | Y |
And all three senses in full gust enjoy'd | Y |
And what alone did all the rest surpass | Z |
The sweet possession of the fairy place | S |
Single and conscious to myself alone | A2 |
Of pleasures to the excluded world unknown | A2 |
Pleasures which nowhere else were to be found | Y |
And all Elysium in a spot of ground | Y |
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Thus while I sat intent to see and hear | G2 |
And drew perfumes of more than vital air | J |
All suddenly I heard the approaching sound | Y |
Of vocal music on the enchanted ground | Y |
A host of saints it seem'd so full the quire | X |
As if the bless'd above did all conspire | W |
To join their voices and neglect the lyre | X |
At length there issued from the grove behind | Y |
A fair assembly of the female kind | Y |
A train less fair as ancient fathers tell | C2 |
Seduced the sons of heaven to rebel | K2 |
I pass their form and every charming grace | S |
Less than an angel would their worth debase | S |
But their attire like liveries of a kind | Y |
All rich and rare is fresh within my mind | Y |
In velvet white as snow the troop was gown'd | Y |
The seams with sparkling emeralds set around | Y |
Their hoods and sleeves the same and purfled o'er | W |
With diamonds pearls and all the shining store | L2 |
Of eastern pomp their long descending train | L |
With rubies edged and sapphires swept the plain | L |
High on their heads with jewels richly set | Y |
Each lady wore a radiant coronet | Y |
Beneath the circles all the quire was graced | Y |
With chaplets green on their fair foreheads placed | Y |
Of laurel some of woodbine many more | L2 |
And wreaths of Agnus castus others bore | L2 |
These last who with those virgin crowns were dress'd | Y |
Appear'd in higher honour than the rest | Y |
They danced around but in the midst was seen | T |
A lady of a more majestic mien | T |
By stature and by beauty mark'd their sovereign queen | T |
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She in the midst began with sober grace | S |
Her servants' eyes were fix'd upon her face | S |
And as she moved or turn'd her motions view'd | Y |
Her measures kept and step by step pursued | Y |
Methought she trod the ground with greater grace | S |
With more of godhead shining in her face | S |
And as in beauty she surpass'd the quire | X |
So nobler than the rest was her attire | W |
A crown of ruddy gold enclosed her brow | F2 |
Plain without pomp and rich without a show | E2 |
A branch of Agnus castus in her hand | Y |
She bore aloft her sceptre of command | Y |
Admired adored by all the circling crowd | Y |
For wheresoe'er she turn'd her face they bow'd | Y |
And as she danced a roundelay she sung | P |
In honour of the laurel ever young | P |
She raised her voice on high and sung so clear | E |
The fawns came scudding from the groves to hear | G2 |
And all the bending forest lent an ear | G2 |
At every close she made the attending throng | K |
Replied and bore the burden of the song | K |
So just so small yet in so sweet a note | Y |
It seem'd the music melted in the throat | Y |
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Thus dancing on and singing as they danced | Y |
They to the middle of the mead advanced | Y |
Till round my arbour a new ring they made | Y |
And footed it about the sacred shade | Y |
O'erjoy'd to see the jolly troops so near | E |
But somewhat awed I shook with holy fear | E |
Yet not so much but what I noted well | C2 |
Who did the most in song or dance excel | C2 |
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Not long I had observed when from afar | M2 |
I heard a sudden symphony of war | L2 |
The neighing coursers and the soldiers cry | N |
And sounding trumps that seem'd to tear the sky | N |
I saw soon after this behind the grove | B |
From whence the ladies did in order move | J2 |
Come issuing out in arms a warrior train | L |
That like a deluge pour'd upon the plain | L |
On barbed steeds they rode in proud array | I |
Thick as the college of the bees in May | I |
When swarming o'er the dusky fields they fly | N |
New to the flowers and intercept the sky | N |
So fierce they drove their coursers were so fleet | Y |
That the turf trembled underneath their feet | Y |
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To tell their costly furniture were long | K |
The summer's day would end before the song | K |
To purchase but the tenth of all their store | L2 |
Would make the mighty Persian monarch poor | N2 |
Yet what I can I will before the rest | Y |
The trumpets issued in white mantles dress'd | Y |
A numerous troop and all their heads around | Y |
With chaplets green of cerrial oak were crown'd | Y |
And at each trumpet was a banner bound | Y |
Which waving in the wind displayed at large | O2 |
Their master's coat of arms and knightly charge | O2 |
Broad were the banners and of snowy hue | O |
A purer web the silk worm never drew | O |
The chief about their necks the scutcheons wore | L2 |
With orient pearls and jewels powder'd o'er | W |
Broad were their collars too and every one | A |
Was set about with many a costly stone | A2 |
Next these of kings at arms a goodly train | L |
In proud array came prancing o'er the plain | L |
Their cloaks were cloth of silver mix'd with gold | Y |
And garlands green around their temples roll'd | Y |
Rich crowns were on their royal scutcheons placed | Y |
With sapphires diamonds and with rubies graced | Y |
And as the trumpets their appearance made | Y |
So these in habits were alike array'd | Y |
But with a pace more sober and more slow | E2 |
And twenty rank in rank they rode a row | E2 |
The pursuivants came next in number more | L2 |
And like the heralds each his scutcheon bore | L2 |
Clad in white velvet all their troop they led | Y |
With each an oaken chaplet on his head | Y |
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Nine royal knights in equal rank succeed | Y |
Each warrior mounted on a fiery steed | Y |
In golden armour glorious to behold | Y |
The rivets of their arms were nail'd with gold | Y |
Their surcoats of white ermine fur were made | Y |
With cloth of gold between that cast a glittering shade | Y |
The trappings of their steeds were of the same | P2 |
The golden fringe even set the ground on flame | P2 |
And drew a precious trail a crown divine | Q2 |
Of laurel did about their temples twine | Q2 |
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Three henchmen were for every knight assign'd | Y |
All in rich livery clad and of a kind | Y |
White velvet but unshorn for cloaks they wore | L2 |
And each within his hand a truncheon bore | L2 |
The foremost held a helm of rare device | I2 |
A prince's ransom would not pay the price | I2 |
The second bore the buckler of his knight | Y |
The third of cornel wood a spear upright | Y |
Headed with piercing steel and polish'd bright | Y |
Like to their lords their equipage was seen | T |
And all their foreheads crown'd with garlands green | T |
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And after these came arm'd with spear and shield | Y |
A host so great as cover'd all the field | Y |
And all their foreheads like the knights before | L2 |
With laurels ever green were shaded o'er | W |
Or oak or other leaves of lasting kind | Y |
Tenacious of the stem and firm against the wind | Y |
Some in their hands beside the lance and shield | Y |
The boughs of woodbine or of hawthorn held | Y |
Or branches for their mystic emblems took | R2 |
Of palm of laurel and of cerrial oak | S2 |
Thus marching to the trumpet's lofty sound | Y |
Drawn in two lines adverse they wheel'd around | Y |
And in the middle meadow took their ground | Y |
Among themselves the tourney they divide | Y |
In equal squadrons ranged on either side | Y |
Then turn'd their horses' heads and man to man | T2 |
And steed to steed opposed the jousts began | T2 |
They lightly set their lances in the rest | Y |
And at the sign against each other press'd | Y |
They met I sitting at my ease beheld | Y |
The mix'd events and fortunes of the field | Y |
Some broke their spears some tumbled horse and man | T2 |
And round the field the lighten'd coursers ran | T2 |
An hour and more like tides in equal sway | I |
They rush'd and won by turns and lost the day | I |
At length the nine who still together held | Y |
Their fainting foes to shameful flight compell'd | Y |
And with resistless force o'er ran the field | Y |
Thus to their fame when finish'd was the fight | Y |
The victors from their lofty steeds alight | Y |
Like them dismounted all the warlike train | L |
And two by two proceeded o'er the plain | L |
Till to the fair assembly they advanced | Y |
Who near the secret arbour sung and danced | Y |
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The ladies left their measures at the sight | Y |
To meet the chiefs returning from the fight | Y |
And each with open arms embraced her chosen knight | Y |
Amid the plain a spreading laurel stood | Y |
The grace and ornament of all the wood | Y |
That pleasing shade they sought a soft retreat | Y |
From sudden April showers a shelter from the heat | Y |
Her leafy arms with such extent were spread | Y |
So near the clouds was her aspiring head | Y |
That hosts of birds that wing the liquid air | J |
Perch'd in the boughs had nightly lodging there | J |
And flocks of sheep beneath the shade from far | M2 |
Might hear the rattling hail and wintry war | L2 |
From heaven's inclemency here found retreat | Y |
Enjoy'd the cool and shunn'd the scorching heat | Y |
A hundred knights might there at ease abide | Y |
And every knight a lady by his side | Y |
The trunk itself such odours did bequeath | U2 |
That a Moluccan breeze to these was common breath | D2 |
The lords and ladies here approaching paid | Y |
Their homage with a low obeisance made | Y |
And seem'd to venerate the sacred shade | Y |
These rites perform'd their pleasures they pursue | O |
With song of love and mix with measures new | O |
Around the holy tree their dance they frame | P2 |
And every champion leads his chosen dame | P2 |
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I cast my sight upon the farther field | Y |
And a fresh object of delight beheld | Y |
For from the region of the West I heard | Y |
New music sound and a new troop appear'd | Y |
Of knights and ladies mix'd a jolly band | Y |
But all on foot they march'd and hand in hand | Y |
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The ladies dress'd in rich symars were seen | T |
Of Florence satin flower'd with white and green | T |
And for a shade betwixt the bloomy gridelin | T |
The borders of their petticoats below | E2 |
Were guarded thick with rubies on a row | E2 |
And every damsel wore upon her head | Y |
Of flowers a garland blended white and red | Y |
Attired in mantles all the knights were seen | T |
That gratified the view with cheerful green | T |
Their chaplets of their ladies' colours were | W |
Composed of white and red to shade their shining hair | J |
Before the merry troop the minstrels play'd | Y |
All in their masters' liveries were array'd | Y |
And clad in green and on their temples wore | L2 |
The chaplets white and red their ladies bore | L2 |
Their instruments were various in their kind | Y |
Some for the bow and some for breathing wind | Y |
The sawtry pipe and hautboy's noisy band | Y |
And the soft lute trembling beneath the touching hand | Y |
A tuft of daisies on a flowery lea | R |
They saw and thitherward they bent their way | I |
To this both knights and dames their homage made | Y |
And due obeisance to the daisy paid | Y |
And then the band of flutes began to play | I |
To which a lady sung a virelay | I |
And still at every close she would repeat | Y |
The burden of the song The daisy is so sweet | Y |
The daisy is so sweet when she begun | T |
The troop of knights and dames continued on | T |
The concert and the voice so charm'd my ear | G2 |
And soothed my soul that it was heaven to hear | G2 |
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But soon their pleasure pass'd at noon of day | I |
The sun with sultry beams began to play | I |
Not Sirius shoots a fiercer flame from high | N |
When with his poisonous breath he blasts the sky | N |
Then droop'd the fading flowers their beauty fled | Y |
And closed their sickly eyes and hung the head | Y |
And rivell'd up with heat lay dying in their bed | Y |
The ladies gasp'd and scarcely could respire | G2 |
The breath they drew no longer air but fire | G2 |
The fainty knights were scorch'd and knew not where | G2 |
To run for shelter for no shade was near | G2 |
And after this the gathering clouds amain | T |
Pour'd down a storm of rattling hail and rain | T |
And lightning flash'd betwixt the field and flowers | D |
Burnt up before were buried in the showers | D |
The ladies and the knights no shelter nigh | N |
Bare to the weather and the wintry sky | N |
Were drooping wet disconsolate and wan | T |
And through their thin array received the rain | T |
While those in white protected by the tree | G2 |
Saw pass in vain the assault and stood from danger free | G2 |
But as compassion moved their gentle minds | V2 |
When ceased the storm and silent were the winds | W2 |
Displeased at what not suffering they had seen | T |
They went to cheer the faction of the green | T |
The queen in white array before her band | Y |
Saluting took her rival by the hand | Y |
So did the knights and dames with courtly grace | S |
And with behaviour sweet their foes embrace | S |
Then thus the queen with laurel on her brow | G2 |
Fair sister I have suffer'd in your woe | E2 |
Nor shall be wanting aught within my power | G2 |
For your relief in my refreshing bower | G2 |
That other answer'd with a lowly look | R2 |
And soon the gracious invitation took | R2 |
For ill at ease both she and all her train | T |
The scorching sun had borne and beating rain | T |
Like courtesy was used by all in white | Y |
Each dame a dame received and every knight a knight | Y |
The laurel champions with their swords invade | Y |
The neighbouring forests where the jousts were made | Y |
And serewood from the rotten hedges took | R2 |
And seeds of latent fire from flints provoke | S2 |
A cheerful blaze arose and by the fire | G2 |
They warm'd their frozen feet and dried their wet attire | G2 |
Refresh'd with heat the ladies sought around | Y |
For virtuous herbs which gather'd from the ground | Y |
They squeezed the juice and cooling ointment made | Y |
Which on their sun burnt cheeks and their chapt skins they laid | Y |
Then sought green salads which they bade them eat | Y |
A sovereign remedy for inward heat | Y |
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The Lady of the Leaf ordain'd a feast | Y |
And made the Lady of the Flower her guest | Y |
When lo a bower ascended on the plain | T |
With sudden seats ordain'd and large for either train | T |
This bower was near my pleasant arbour placed | Y |
That I could hear and see whatever pass'd | Y |
The ladies sat with each a knight between | T |
Distinguish'd by their colours white and green | T |
The vanquish'd party with the victors join'd | Y |
Nor wanted sweet discourse the banquet of the mind | Y |
Meantime the minstrels play'd on either side | Y |
Vain of their art and for the mastery vied | Y |
The sweet contention lasted for an hour | G2 |
And reach'd my secret arbour from the bower | G2 |
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The sun was set and Vesper to supply | N |
His absent beams had lighted up the sky | N |
When Philomel officious all the day | I |
To sing the service of the ensuing May | I |
Fled from her laurel shade and wing'd her flight | Y |
Directly to the queen array'd in white | Y |
And hopping sat familiar on her hand | Y |
A new musician and increased the band | Y |
- | |
The goldfinch who to shun the scalding heat | Y |
Had changed the medlar for a safer seat | Y |
And hid in bushes 'scaped the bitter shower | G2 |
Now perch'd upon the Lady of the Flower | G2 |
And either songster holding out their throats | X2 |
And folding up their wings renew'd their notes | X2 |
As if all day precluding to the fight | Y |
They only had rehearsed to sing by night | Y |
The banquet ended and the battle done | T |
They danced by star light and the friendly moon | T |
And when they were to part the laureate queen | T |
Supplied with steeds the lady of the green | T |
Her and her train conducting on the way | I |
The moon to follow and avoid the day | I |
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This when I saw inquisitive to know | E2 |
The secret moral of the mystic show | E2 |
I started from my shade in hopes to find | Y |
Some nymph to satisfy my longing mind | Y |
And as my fair adventure fell I found | Y |
A lady all in white with laurel crown'd | Y |
Who closed the rear and softly paced along | K |
Repeating to herself the former song | K |
With due respect my body I inclined | Y |
As to some being of superior kind | Y |
And made my court according to the day | I |
Wishing her queen and her a happy May | I |
Great thanks my daughter with a gracious bow | G2 |
She said and I who much desired to know | E2 |
Of whence she was yet fearful how to break | Y2 |
My mind adventured humbly thus to speak | Z2 |
Madam might I presume and not offend | Y |
So may the stars and shining moon attend | Y |
Your nightly sports as you vouchsafe to tell | I |
What nymphs they were who mortal forms excel | I |
And what the knights who fought in listed fields so well | I |
To this the dame replied Fair daughter know | E2 |
That what you saw was all a fairy show | E2 |
And all those airy shapes you now behold | Y |
Were human bodies once and clothed with earthly mould | Y |
Our souls not yet prepared for upper light | Y |
Till doomsday wander in the shades of night | Y |
This only holiday of all the year | G2 |
We privileged in sunshine may appear | G2 |
With songs and dance we celebrate the day | I |
And with due honours usher in the May | I |
At other times we reign by night alone | T |
And posting through the skies pursue the moon | T |
But when the morn arises none are found | Y |
For cruel Demogorgon walks the round | Y |
And if he finds a fairy lag in light | Y |
He drives the wretch before and lashes into night | Y |
- | |
All courteous are by kind and ever proud | Y |
With friendly offices to help the good | Y |
In every land we have a larger space | S |
Than what is known to you of mortal race | S |
Where we with green adorn our fairy bowers | D |
And even this grove unseen before is ours | D |
Know farther every lady clothed in white | Y |
And crown'd with oak and laurel every knight | Y |
Are servants to the Leaf by liveries known | T |
Of innocence and I myself am one | T |
Saw you not her so graceful to behold | Y |
In white attire and crown'd with radiant gold | Y |
The sovereign lady of our land is she | G2 |
Diana call'd the Queen of Chastity | G2 |
And for the spotless name of maid she bears | A3 |
That Agnus castus in her hand appears | B3 |
And all her train with leafy chaplets crown'd | Y |
Were for unblamed virginity renown'd | Y |
But those the chief and highest in command | Y |
Who bear those holy branches in their hand | Y |
The knights adorn'd with laurel crowns are they | I |
Whom death nor danger ever could dismay | I |
Victorious names who made the world obey | I |
Who while they lived in deeds of arms excell'd | Y |
And after death for deities were held | Y |
But those who wear the woodbine on their brow | G2 |
Were knights of love who never broke their vow | G2 |
Firm to their plighted faith and ever free | G2 |
From fears and fickle chance and jealousy | G2 |
The lords and ladies who the woodbine bear | G2 |
As true as Tristram and Isotta were | G2 |
- | |
But what are those said I the unconquer'd nine | T |
Who crown'd with laurel wreaths in golden armour shine | T |
And who the knights in green and what the train | T |
Of ladies dress'd with daisies on the plain | T |
Why both the bands in worship disagree | G2 |
And some adore the flower and some the tree | G2 |
- | |
Just is your suit fair daughter said the dame | P2 |
Those laurell'd chiefs were men of mighty fame | P2 |
Nine worthies were they call'd of different rites | C3 |
Three Jews three Pagans and three Christian knights | C3 |
These as you see ride foremost in the field | Y |
As they the foremost rank of honour held | Y |
And all in deeds of chivalry excell'd | Y |
Their temples wreathed with leaves that still renew | T |
For deathless laurel is the victor's due | T |
Who bear the bows were knights in Arthur's reign | T |
Twelve they and twelve the peers of Charlemagne | T |
For bows the strength of brawny arms imply | N |
Emblems of valour and of victory | G2 |
Behold an order yet of newer date | Y |
Doubling their number equal in their state | Y |
Our England's ornament the crown's defence | D3 |
In battle brave protectors of their prince | E3 |
Unchanged by fortune to their sovereign true | T |
For which their manly legs are bound with blue | T |
These of the Garter call'd of faith unstain'd | Y |
In fighting fields the laurel have obtain'd | Y |
And well repaid the honours which they gain'd | Y |
The laurel wreaths were first by Cesar worn | T |
And still they Cesar's successors adorn | T |
One leaf of this is immortality | G2 |
And more of worth than all the world can buy | N |
- | |
One doubt remains said I the dames in green | T |
What were their qualities and who their queen | T |
Flora commands said she those nymphs and knights | C3 |
Who lived in slothful ease and loose delights | C3 |
Who never acts of honour durst pursue | T |
The men inglorious knights the ladies all untrue | T |
Who nursed in idleness and train'd in courts | F3 |
Pass'd all their precious hours in plays and sports | F3 |
Till death behind came stalking on unseen | T |
And wither'd like the storm the freshness of their green | T |
These and their mates enjoy their present hour | G2 |
And therefore pay their homage to the Flower | G2 |
But knights in knightly deeds should persevere | G2 |
And still continue what at first they were | G2 |
Continue and proceed in honour's fair career | G2 |
No room for cowardice or dull delay | I |
From good to better they should urge their way | I |
For this with golden spurs the chiefs are graced | Y |
With pointed rowels arm'd to mend their haste | Y |
For this with lasting leaves their brows are bound | Y |
For laurel is the sign of labour crown'd | Y |
Which bears the bitter blast nor shaken falls to ground | Y |
From winter winds it suffers no decay | I |
For ever fresh and fair and every month is May | I |
Even when the vital sap retreats below | E2 |
Even when the hoary head is hid in snow | E2 |
The life is in the Leaf and still between | T |
The fits of falling snow appears the streaky green | T |
Not so the Flower which lasts for little space | S |
A short lived good and an uncertain grace | S |
This way and that the feeble stem is driven | T |
Weak to sustain the storms and injuries of heaven | T |
Propp'd by the spring it lifts aloft the head | Y |
But of a sickly beauty soon to shed | Y |
In summer living and in winter dead | Y |
For things of tender kind for pleasure made | Y |
Shoot up with swift increase and sudden are decay'd | Y |
- | |
With humble words the wisest I could frame | P2 |
And proffer'd service I repaid the dame | P2 |
That of her grace she gave her maid to know | E2 |
The secret meaning of this moral show | E2 |
And she to prove what profit I had made | Y |
Of mystic truth in fables first convey'd | Y |
Demanded till the next returning May | I |
Whether the Leaf or Flower I would obey | I |
I chose the Leaf she smiled with sober cheer | G2 |
And wish'd me fair adventure for the year | G2 |
And gave me charms and sigils for defence | D3 |
Against ill tongues that scandal innocence | G3 |
But I said she my fellows must pursue | T |
Already past the plain and out of view | T |
- | |
We parted thus I homeward sped my way | I |
Bewilder'd in the wood till dawn of day | I |
And met the merry crew who danced about the May | I |
Then late refresh'd with sleep I rose to write | Y |
The visionary vigils of the night | Y |
- | |
Blush as thou may'st my little book with shame | P2 |
Nor hope with homely verse to purchase fame | P2 |
For such thy maker chose and so design'd | Y |
Thy simple style to suit thy lowly kind | Y |
John Dryden
(1)
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