Ask the female palm how she
First did woo her husband’s love;
And the magnet, ask how he[19:1]
Doth th’ obsequious iron move;10
Waters, plants, and stones know this:
That they love; not what Love is.
Be not thou[19:2] less kind than these,
Or from Love exempt alone!
Let us twine like amorous trees,15
And like rivers melt in one.
Or, if thou more cruel prove,
Learn of steel and stones to love.
On a Violet in her Breast.
See how this violet, which before
Hung sullenly her drooping head,
As angry at the ground that bore
The purple treasure which she spread,
Doth smilingly erected grow,5
Transplanted to those hills of snow.
And whilst the pillows of thy breast
Do her reclining head sustain,
She swells with pride to be so blest,
And doth all other flowers disdain;10
Yet weeps that dew which kissed her last,
To see her odours so surpass’d.
Poor flower! how far deceiv’d thou wert,
To think the riches of the morn
Or all the sweets she can impart.15
Could these or sweeten or adorn,
Since thou from them dost borrow scent,
And they to thee lend ornament!
Foolish Lover, go and seek
For the damask of the rose,
And the lilies white dispose
To adorn thy mistress’ cheek;