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EDWARD DE VERE, Earl of OXFORD.
What cunning can express?
[R.S., Phoenix Nest. 1593. ] [J. BODENHAM, England's Helicon. 1600.]
<poem> What cunning can express
The favour of her face?
To whom, in this distress,
I do appeal for grace.
A thousand Cupids fly
About her gentle eye.
From whence, each throws a dart
That kindleth soft sweet fire
Within my sighing heart,
Possessed by desire.
No sweeter life I try,
Than in her love to die.
The lily in the field
That glories in his white;
For pureness now must yield
And render up his right.
Heaven pictured in her face,
Doth promise joy and grace.
- <poem>
