Delphi Poetry Anthology: The World's Greatest Poems (Delphi Poets Series Book 50) (91 page)
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Authors: Homer,William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
UNDER the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And tune his merry note
Unto the sweet bird’s throat —
Come hither, come hither, come hither!
5
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.
Who doth ambition shun
And loves to live i’ the sun,
10
Seeking the food he eats
And pleased with what he gets —
Come hither, come hither, come hither!
Here shall he see
No enemy
15
But winter and rough weather.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
IT was a lover and his lass
With a hey and a ho, and a hey-nonino!
That o’er the green corn-field did pass
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing hey ding a ding:
5
Sweet lovers love the Spring.
Between the acres of the rye
These pretty country folks would lie:
This carol they began that hour,
How that life was but a flower:
10
And therefore take the present time
With a hey and a ho, and a hey-nonino!
For love is crownéd with the prime
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing hey ding a ding:
15
Sweet lovers love the Spring.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
WHO is Silvia? What is she?
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she:
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admirèd be.
5
Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness:
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness;
And, being help’d, inhabits there.
10
Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling:
To her let us garlands bring.
15
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
WHEN daisies pied and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver-white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
5
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo! — O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
10
And merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
15
Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo! — O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
YOU spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our fairy queen.
Philomel, with melody,
5
Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby!
Never harm,
Nor spell nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;
10
So, good night, with lullaby.
Weaving spiders, come not here;
Hence, you long-legg’d spinners, hence!
Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm nor snail, do no offence.
15
Philomel, with melody,
Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby!
Never harm,
Nor spell nor charm,
20
Come our lovely lady nigh;
So, good night, with lullaby.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
HOW should I your true love know
From another one?
By his cockle hat and staff,
And his sandal shoon.
He is dead and gone, lady,
5
He is dead and gone;
At his head a grass-green turf,
At his heels a stone.
White his shroud as the mountain snow,
Larded with sweet flowers,
10
Which bewept to the grave did go
With true-love showers.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
WHERE the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip’s bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly.
After summer merrily:
5
Merrily, merrily, shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
ON a day, alack the day!
Love, whose month is ever May,
Spied a blossom passing fair
Playing in the wanton air;
Through the velvet leaves the wind,
5
All unseen, ‘gan passage find;
That the lover, sick to death,
Wish’d himself the heaven’s breath.
Air, quoth he, thy cheeks may blow;
Air, would I might triumph so!
10
But, alack, my hand is sworn
Ne’er to pluck thee from thy thorn:
Vow, alack, for youth unmeet;
Youth so apt to pluck a sweet.
Do not call it sin in me
15
That I am forsworn for thee:
Thou for whom e’en Jove would swear
Juno but an Ethiope were,
And deny himself for Jove,
Turning mortal for thy love.
20
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
TAKE, O take those lips away
That so sweetly were forsworn,
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn:
But my kisses bring again,
5
Bring again —
Seals of love, but seal’d in vain,
Seal’d in vain!
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Crabbed Age a
nd Youth
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
CRABBED Age and Youth
Cannot live together:
Youth is full of pleasance,
Age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn,
5
Age like winter weather,
Youth like summer brave,
Age like winter bare:
Youth is full of sport,
Age’s breath is short,
10
Youth is nimble, Age is lame:
Youth is hot and bold,
Age is weak and cold,
Youth is wild, and Age is tame: —
Age, I do abhor thee,
15
Youth, I do adore thee;
O! my Love, my Love is young!
Age, I do defy thee —
O sweet shepherd, hie thee,
For methinks thou stay’st too long.
20
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
BLOW, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,
5
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh ho! sing heigh ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.
10
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
15
As friend remember’d not.
Heigh ho! sing heigh ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.
20
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
