ON GEORGE HERBERT'S 'THE TEMPLE' SENT TO A GENTLEWOMAN

Know you, fair, on what you look?

Divinest love lies in this book:

Expecting fire from your fair eyes,

To kindle this his sacrifice.

When your hands untie these strings,

Think, you've an angel by the wings;

One that gladly would be nigh,

To wait upon each morning sigh;

To flutter in the balmy air

Of your well-perfumed prayer;

These white plumes of his he'll lend you,

Which every day to heaven will send you:

To take acquaintance of each sphere,

And all your smooth-faced kindred there.

And though Herbert's name do owe

These devotions, fairest, know

While I thus lay them on the shrine

Of your white hand, they are mine.

The Book-Lovers' Anthology · 第 436 / 714 题