Diaphenia
Henry Constable · 1592
Public domain
From The Golden Treasury, selected by Francis Turner Palgrave. Henry Constable. The text is free of copyright in the United States. This copy is the poem, without the Project Gutenberg header.
Diaphenia like the daffadowndilly,
White as the sun, fair as the lily,
Heigh ho, how do I love thee!
I do love thee as my lambs
Are belovéd of their dams;
How blest were I if thou would'st prove me.
Diaphenia like the spreading roses,
That in thy sweets all sweets encloses,
Fair sweet, how do I love thee!
I do love thee as each flower
Loves the sun's life-giving power;
For dead, thy breath to life might move me.
Diaphenia like to all things blesséd
When all thy praises are expresséd,
Dear joy, how do I love thee!
As the birds do love the spring,
Or the bees their careful king:
Then in requite, sweet virgin, love me!