Poem by Edmund Spenser

Amoretti 47. Trust not the treason of those smyling lookes

Trust not the treason of those smyling lookes,
Untill ye have their guylefull traynes well tryde;
For they are lyke but unto golden hookes,
That from the foolish fish theyr bayts do hyde:
So she with flattring smyles weake harts doth guyde
Unto her love, and tempte to theyr decay;
Whome, being caught, she kills with cruell pryde,
And feeds at pleasure on the wretched pray.
Yet even whylst her bloody hands them slay,
Her eyes looke lovely, and upon them smyle,
That they take pleasure in their cruell play,
And, dying, doe themselves of payne beguyle.
  O mighty charm! which makes men love theyr bane,
  And thinck they dy with pleasure, live with payne. 

1. Amoretti 10. Unrighteous Lord of love, what law is this
2. Amoretti 61. The glorious image of the Makers beautie
3. Amoretti 24. When I behold that beauties wonderment
4. Amoretti 52. So oft as homeward I from her depart
5. Amoretti 75. One day I wrote her name upon the strand

Print

1167 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version