Edmund Spenser


Amoretti 28. The laurel-leafe which you this day doe weare


The laurel-leafe which you this day doe weare
Gives me great hope of your relenting mynd:
For since it is the badge which I doe beare*,
Ye, bearing it, doe seeme to me inclind.
The powre thereof, which ofte in me I find,
Let it likewise your gentle brest inspire
With sweet infusion, and put you in mind
Of that proud mayd whom now those leaves attyre:
Proud Daphne, scorning Phœbus lovely** fyre,
On the Thessalian shore from him did flie;
For which the gods, in theyr revengefull yre,
Did her transforme into a laurell-tree.
  Then fly no more, fayre Love, from Phebus chace,
  But in your brest his leafe and love embrace.

[* I. e. as poet-laureate.]
[** Lovely, loving.] 






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