From The Bristol Drollery, 1674.
To A Young Lady in a Garden.
The Rose's Speech.
FAIREST, if you roses seek,
Take the nearest like your cheek.
I, the damask, would presume
To tender you my sweet perfume;
I am young, like you, a bud,
Peeping thorough my green hood,
Blushing only 'cause I see
Fresher roses grow on thee.
Crop me then and let me lie
In the sun-shine of thine eye
Till full-blown; then let me grow
In thy bosom, next thy snow,
That I may find, when my leaves fall,
In that sweet place a funeral.
Then, Celia, be you like the rose,
Who its season wisely chose;
Do not keep your maiden flower
Beyond its time, its full ripe hour.
Like the rose, you need not offer;
But when a worthy hand doth proffer,
Refuse not, Celia: on my life
You'll wear as fresh when you're a wife.
Let not your beauties untouch'd die,
Or wither'd and neglected lie;
Rather let them thrive i' th' light
Of his am'rous eager sight,
That when at last they fall and spread
It may be sweetly on his bed.
From The Mysteries of Love and Eloquence, 1658.
Lose no Time.
LOSE no time nor youth but be
Kind to men, as they to thee;
The fair lilies that now grow
In thy cheeks, and purely show,
The cherry and the rose that blow,
If too long they hang and waste,
Winter comes that all will blast.
Thou art ripe, full ripe for men;
In thy sweets be gather'd then.
From Westminster Drollery (Second Part), 1672.