O Linnet in the wild-rose brake Strain for my Love thy melody, O Lark sing louder for love’s sake, My gentle Lady passeth by. She is too fair for any man To see or hold his heart’s delight, Fairer than Queen or courtesan Or moonlit water in the night. Her hair is bound with myrtle leaves, (Green leaves upon her golden hair!) Green grasses through the yellow sheaves Of autumn corn are not more fair. Her little lips, more made to kiss Than to cry bitterly for pain, Are tremulous as brook-water is, Or roses after evening rain. p. 94Her neck is like white melilote Flushing for pleasure of the sun, The throbbing of the linnet’s throat Is not so sweet to look upon. p. 94 As a pomegranate, cut in twain, White-seeded, is her crimson mouth, Her cheeks are as the fading stain Where the peach reddens to the south. O twining hands! O delicate White body made for love and pain! O House of love! O desolate Pale flower beaten by the rain! p. 95CHANSON p. 95 A ring of gold and a milk-white dove Are goodly gifts for thee, And a hempen rope for your own love To hang upon a tree. ring For you a House of Ivory, (Roses are white in the rose-bower)! A narrow bed for me to lie, (White, O white, is the hemlock flower)! Myrtle and jessamine for you, (O the red rose is fair to see)! For me the cypress and the rue, (Finest of all is rosemary)! For you three lovers of your hand, (Green grass where a man lies dead)! For me three paces on the sand, (Plant lilies at my head)! p. 97CHARMIDES p. 97 p. 99I. p. 99
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