Melicertus' Description of His Mistress -

Tune on, my pipe, the praises of my love,

And, midst thy oaten harmony, recount

How fair she is that makes thy music mount,

And every string of thy heart's harp to move.

Shall I compare her form unto the sphere

Whence sun-bright Venus vaunts her silver shine?

Ah, more than that, by just compare, is thine,

Whose crystal looks the cloudy heavens do clear!

How oft have I descending Titan seen

His burning locks couch in the sea-queen's lap,

And beauteous Thetis his red body wrap

In watery robes, as he her lord had been!

Whenas my nymph, impatient of the night,

Bade bright Atraeus with his train give place,

Whiles she led forth the day with her fair face,

And lent each star a more than Delian light.

Not Jove or Nature — should they both agree

To make a woman of the firmament

Of his mix'd purity — could not invent

A sky-born form so beautiful as she.