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ENGLISH POEMS
O my luve is like a red, red rose.
1. O MY LUVE IS LIKE A RED, RED
ROSE
O my luve is like a red, red rose.
That’s newly sprung in June.
O my luve is like the melodie.
That’s sweetly played in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I ;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’the seas gang dry my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’s the sun
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sand o’life-shall run,
And fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my luve!
Tho’it were ten thousand mile.
2. YOUR BEAUTY AND MY REASON
(ANORMOUROUS – ENGLAND)
Like two proud armies marching in the field,
Joining a thundering fight, each scorns to
yield,
So in my heart your beauty and my reason,
The one claims the crown, the other says tis
treason.
But o! your beaty shineth as the sun.
And dazzled Reason yields as quite undone.
3. MUTE LOVE (ANOMOUS –
ENGLAND)
There is lady sweet and kind,
Was never face so pleased my mind.
I did but see her passing by,
And yet I love her till I die.
Her gesture, motion and her smiles.
Her wit, her voice my heart beguiles,
Beguiles my heart, I know not why,
And yet I love her till I die.
Cupid is winged and doth change;
Her country so my love doth change;
But change she earth, or change the sky,
Yet I love her till I die.
4. SO FAST ENTANGLED
(ANOMOUS 16TH CENTURY)
Her hair the of golden wire,
Wherein my heart, led by my wandering
eyes,
So fast entangled is that in no wire
It can, nor will, again retire;
But rather will in that sweet bondage die
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Than break one hair to gain her liberty.
5. LOVE ME NOT (ANORMOUS)
Love me not for comely grace,
For my pleasing eye or face,
Not for any outward part;
No, nor for a constant heart!
For these may fail or turn to ill;
So thou and I shall sever.
Keep therefore a true woman’s eye,
And love me still, but know not why!
So hast thou the same reason still
To dote upon me ever.
6. A WOMAN’S LOOKS (ANOMOUS
16TH CENTURY)
A woman’s looks
Are barred hooks,
That catch by art
The strongest heart,
When yet they spend no breath.
But let them speak,
And sighing break
Forth into tears,
Their words are spears
That wound our souls to death
The ratest wit
Is made forget,
And like a child
Is oft beguiles
With love’s sweet-seeming bait.
Love with hs rod
So like a god
Commands the mind
We cannto fine
Fair shows hide fould deceit.
Time, that all things
In order brings,
Hath tsught me now
To be more slow
In giving faith to speech:
Since women’s words
No truth affords,
And when thye kiss
They think by this
Us men to overreach.
7. BEAUTY
(LAUREBCE BINYON- ENGLAND-
1869-?)
I think of a flower that no eyes has ever
seen,
That springs in a solitary air.
It is no one’s joy? It is beautiful as a queen
Without a kingdom’s care.
We have built houses for Beauty, and costly
shrines,
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And a throne in all men’s view;
But she was far on a hill where the morning
shines
And her steps were lost in the dew.
8. WOMAN (OLIVER GOLDSMITH-
ENGLAND; 1730-1779)
When lovely woman stoops to folly
And finds too late that man betray
What charm can soothe her melancholy
What art can wash her tears away,
The only art be guilt to cover,
To hide her shame from every eye,
To give repentance to her lover,
And wring his bosom is- to die.
9. OH, WHEN I WAS IN LOVE WITH
YOU.
(ALFRED E.HOUSMAN- ENGLAND;
1859- 1936)
Oh, when I was in love with you,
Then I was clean and brave,
And miles around the wonder grew
How well did I behave.
And now the fancy passes by,
And nothing will remain,
And miles around they’ll say that i
Am quite myself again.
10. when I was one-and-twenty
(ALFRED E.HOUSMAN –ENGLAND;
1859- 1936)
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
“Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heat away;
Give pearls awat and rubies
But keep your fancy free”
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
“The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
‘tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.”
And I am one-and-twenty
And oh, ‘tis true’, tis true.
11. ALONG THE FIELD AS WE CAME
BY
(ALFRED E.HOUSMAN –ENGLAND;
1859- 1936)
Along the field as we came by
A year ago, my love and I .
The aspen over stile and stone
Was walking to itself alone.
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“oh, who are these that kiss and pass?
A country lover and his lass
Two lovers looking to be wed;
And time shall put them both to bed.
But she shall lie with earth above.
And he beside another love.”
And sure enough beneath the tree
There walks another love with me.
And overhead the aspen heaves
Its rainy-sounding silver leaves;
And I spell nothing in their stir,
But now perhaps they sepak to her.
And plain for her to understand
They talk about a time at hand
When I shall sleep with clover clad
And she beside another lad.
12. HE WAS WEAK AND I WAS
STRONG, THEN,
(EMILY DICINSON- US 1830-1886)
He was weak and I was strong then,
So he let me lead him in
I was was weak and he was strong then,
So I let him lead me home
It wasn’t far, the door was near,
It wasn’t dark, for he went too,
It wasn’t loud, for he said naught.
That was all I cared to know,
Day knocked, and we must part,
Neither was stronger now.
He strove, and I strove too
We didn’t do it through!
13. HEAVEN IN THESE LIPS
(CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE-
ENGLAND—1564-1613)
Doctor Faustus, who has sold his soul to
Mephistopheles, is granted a vision of
Helen of Troy.
….Was this the face that launched a
thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of llium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
Her lips suck forth my soul- see where it
flies!
Come, Helen, come give me my soul again.
Here I will dwell, for heaven is in these lips
And all is dross that is not Helen.
I will be Paris, and for love of thee
Instead of troy shall Wittenberge be sacked,
And I will combat with weak Menelaus
And wear thy colors on my plumed crest;
Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel
And then return to Helen for a kiss
O thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars!....
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14. SONG
(CHALOTTE MEW-ENG- 1869-1928)
Love, love today my dear,
Love is not always here;
Wise maids know how soon grows sere
The greatest leaf of spring;
But no man knoweth
Whither it goeth
When the wind bloweth
So frail a thing.
Love, love my dear today,
If the ship’s in the bay,
If the bird has come your way
That sings on summer trees
When his song faileth
And the ship saith
No voice avail
To call back these.
15. JUST BECAUSE I I LOVE YOU
(LANGSTON HUGHES – US 1902-
1962)
Just because I love you
That’s the reason why
My soul is full of color
Like the wings of a butterfly
Just because I love you
That’s the reason why
My heart’s fluttering aspen leaf
When you pass by
16. SEA LOVE
(CHARLOTTE MEW- END- 1869-1928)
Tide be runnin’ the great world over;
‘twas only last june month I mind that we
Was thinkin’ the toss and the call in the
breast of the lover
So everlasting sa the sea.
Here’s the same little fishes that splutter
and swim,
Wi’ the moon’s old glim on the gray, wet
land;
And him no more to me nor me to him
Than the wind goin’ over my hand.
17. I HAVE BEEN THROUGH THE
GATE
(CHARLOTTE MEW- END- 1869-1928)
His heart to me, was a piece of palace and
pinnacles and shining towers;
I saw it then as we see things in dream, I do
not remember how long I slept,
I remember the trees, and the high, white
walls, and how the sun was always on the
towers;