Poems by Thomas Carew

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He That Loves A Rosy Cheek

He that loves a rosy cheek,

Or a coral lip admires,

Or from star-like eyes doth seek

Fuel to maintain his fires:

As old Time makes these decay,

So his flames must waste away.

But a smooth and steadfast mind,

Gentle thoughts, and calm desires,

175

Thomas Carew

Lips And Eyes

IN Celia's face a question did arise,

Which were more beautiful, her lips or eyes ?

“ We,” said the eyes, “send forth those pointed darts

Which pierce the hardest adamantine hearts.”

“ From us,” repli'd the lips, “proceed those blisses

Which lovers reap by kind words and sweet kisses.”

Then wept the eyes, and from their springs did pour

Of liquid oriental pearl a shower ;

134

Thomas Carew

Mediocrity In Love Rejected

Give me more love or more disdain;

The torrid, or the frozen zone,

Bring equal ease unto my pain;

The temperate affords me none;

Either extreme, of love, or hate,

Is sweeter than a calm estate.

Give me a storm; if it be love,

Like Danae in that golden show'r

154

Thomas Carew

Good Counsel to a Young Maid

GAZE not on thy beauty's pride,

Tender maid, in the false tide

That from lovers' eyes doth slide.

Let thy faithful crystal show

How thy colours come and go :

Beauty takes a foil from woe.

Love, that in those smooth streams lies

Under pity's fair disguise,

156

Thomas Carew

A Prayer To The Wind

Go thou gentle whispering wind,

Bear this sigh; and if thou find

Where my cruel fair doth rest,

Cast it in her snowy breast,

So, enflam'd by my desire,

It may set her heart a-fire.

Those sweet kisses thou shalt gain,

Will reward thee for thy pain:

178

Thomas Carew

To My Inconstant Mistress

When thou, poor excommunicat e

From all the joys of love, shalt see

The full reward and glorious fate

Which my strong faith shall purchase me,

Then curse thine own inconstancy.

A fairer hand than thine shall cure

That heart, which thy false oaths did wound;

And to my soul, a soul more pure

257

Thomas Carew

Persuasions to Enjoy

If the quick spirits in your eye

Now languish and anon must die;

If every sweet and every grace

Must fly from that forsaken face;

Then, Celia, let us reap our joys

Ere Time such goodly fruit destroys.

Or if that golden fleece must grow

100

Thomas Carew

Celia Bleeding, To the Surgeon

Fond man, that canst believe her blood

Will from those purple channels flow;

Or that the pure untainted flood

Can any foul distemper know;

Or that thy weak steel can incise

The crystal case wherein it lies:

Know, her quick blood, proud of his seat,

Runs dancing through her azure veins;

177

Thomas Carew

Eternity Of Love Protested

How ill doth he deserve a lover's name,

Whose pale weak flame

Cannot retain

His heat, in spite of absence or disdain;

But doth at once, like paper set on fire,

Burn and expire;

True love can never change his seat,

Nor did her ever love, that could retreat.

115

Thomas Carew

A Beautiful Mistress

IF when the sun at noon displays

His brighter rays,

Thou but appear,

He then, all pale with shame and fear,

Quencheth his light,

Hides his dark brow, flies from thy sight,

And grows more dim,

Compared to thee, than stars to him.

143

Thomas Carew

Boldness In Love

Mark how the bashful morn in vain

Courts the amorous marigold,

With sighing blasts and weeping rain,

Yet she refuses to unfold.

But when the planet of the day

Approacheth with his powerful ray,

The she spreads, then she receives

His warmer beams into her virgin leaves.

125

Thomas Carew

Epitaph On The Lady Mary Villiers

This little vault, this narrow room,

Of Love, and Beauty, is the tomb;

The dawning beam that gan to clear

Our clouded sky, lies darken'd here,

Forever set to us, by death

Sent to inflame the world beneath.

'Twas but a bud, yet did contain

More sweetness than shall spring again;

160

Thomas Carew