Love
The Fair Felon
From Lyrics from the Dramatists of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1889)
In Love's name you are charged hereby
To make a speedy hue and cry,
After a face, who t'other day,
Came and stole my heart away;
For your directions in brief
These are best marks to know the thief:
Her hair a net of beams would prove,
Strong enough to captive Jove,
Playing the eagle; her clear brow
Is a comely field of snow.
A sparkling eye, so pure a gray
As when it shines it needs no day.
Ivory dwelleth on her nose;
Lilies, married to the rose,
Have made her cheek the nuptial bed;
Her lips betray their virgin red,
As they only blushed for this,
That they one another kiss.
But observe, beside the rest,
You shall know this felon best
By her tongue; for if your ear
Shall once a heavenly music hear,
Such as neither gods nor men
But from that voice shall hear again,
That, that is she, oh, take her t'ye,
None can rock heaven asleep but she.
Cite this poem
MLA
Shirley, James. “The Fair Felon.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/shirley/3/.
Chicago
Shirley, James. “The Fair Felon.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/shirley/3/.
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