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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  305. Go, lovely Rose

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Edmund Waller. 1606–1687

305. Go, lovely Rose

GO, lovely Rose— 
Tell her that wastes her time and me, 
    That now she knows, 
When I resemble her to thee, 
How sweet and fair she seems to be.         5
 
    Tell her that ‘s young, 
And shuns to have her graces spied, 
    That hadst thou sprung 
In deserts where no men abide, 
Thou must have uncommended died.  10
 
    Small is the worth 
Of beauty from the light retired: 
    Bid her come forth, 
Suffer herself to be desired, 
And not blush so to be admired.  15
 
    Then die—that she 
The common fate of all things rare 
    May read in thee; 
How small a part of time they share 
That are so wondrous sweet and fair!  20