VERSES AMONG THE ADDITIONAL POEMS TO CHESTER'S LOVE'S MARTYR, 1601. LET the bird of loudest lay On the sole Arabian tree, Herald sad and trumpet be, To whose sound chaste wings obey. But thou, shrieking harbinger, Foul pre-currer of the fiend, Augur of the fever's end, To this troop come thou not near. From this session interdict Every fowl of tyrant wing, Save the eagle, feather'd king: Let the priest in surplice white, And thou, treble-dated crow, With the breath thou giv'st and tak'st, Here the anthem doth commence : So they lov'd, as love in twain Hearts remote, yet not asunder; Distance, and no space was seen "Twixt the turtle and his queen ; But in them it were a wonder. So between them love did shine, Property was thus appall'd, Reason, in itself confounded, That it cried, How true a twain Whereupon it made this threne THRENOS. Beauty, truth, and rarity, Grace in all simplicity, Here enclos'd in cinders lie. Death is now the phoenix' nest; And the turtle's loyal breast To eternity doth rest, Leaving no posterity:- |