Nature

The Spring, a Sonnet

by Sir Richard Fanshawe 1608–1666

Translated by Sir Richard Fanshawe · From Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, ed. George Gilfillan (1860)

Nature

Those whiter lilies which the early morn
Seems to have newly woven of sleaved silk,
To which, on banks of wealthy Tagus born,
Gold was their cradle, liquid pearl their milk.

These blushing roses, with whose virgin leaves
The wanton wind to sport himself presumes,
Whilst from their rifled wardrobe he receives
For his wings purple, for his breath perfumes.

Both those and these my Caelia's pretty foot
Trod up; but if she should her face display,
And fragrant breast, they'd dry again to the root,
As with the blasting of the mid-day's ray;
And this soft wind, which both perfumes and cools,
Pass like the unregarded breath of fools.

MLA

Fanshawe, Richard. “The Spring, a Sonnet.” Translated by Sir Richard Fanshawe. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/fanshawe/0/.

Chicago

Fanshawe, Richard. “The Spring, a Sonnet.” Translated by Sir Richard Fanshawe. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/fanshawe/0/.

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