C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
The Protestation
By Thomas Carew (1595?1639?)
N
Nor sweetness dwell in rosy bowers,
Nor greenest buds on branches spring,
Nor warbling birds delight to sing,
Nor April violets paint the grove,
If I forsake my Celia’s love.
And fountains sweet shall bitter turn;
The humble oak no flood shall know,
When floods shall highest hills o’erflow;
Black Lethe shall oblivion leave,
If e’er my Celia I deceive.
And Venus’s doves want wings to fly;
The Sun refuse to shew his light,
And day shall then be turned to night;
And in that night no star appear,
If once I leave my Celia dear.
Nor lovers more shall love for worth,
Nor joy above the heaven dwell,
Nor pain torment poor souls in hell;
Grim death no more shall horrid prove,
If I e’er leave bright Celia’s love.