Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham

To My Lord of Leicester

1 Not that thy trees at Penshurst groan,
    Oppressed with their timely load,
  And seem to make their silent moan,
    That their great lord is now abroad:
  They to delight his taste, or eye,
  Would spend themselves in fruit, and die.

2 Not that thy harmless deer repine,
    And think themselves unjustly slain
  By any other hand than thine,
    Whose arrows they would gladly stain;
  No, nor thy friends, which hold too dear
  That peace with France which keeps thee there.

3 All these are less than that great cause
    Which now exacts your presence here,
  Wherein there meet the divers laws
    Of public and domestic care.
  For one bright nymph our youth contends,
  And on your prudent choice depends.

4 Not the bright shield of Thetis’ son[2]
    (For which such stern debate did rise,
  That the great Ajax Telamon
    Refused to live without the prize),
  Those Achive peers did more engage
  Than she the gallants of our age.

5 That beam of beauty, which begun
    To warm us so when thou wert here,
  Now scorches like the raging sun,
    When Sirius does first appear.
  Oh, fix this flame! and let despair
  Redeem the rest from endless care.

[1] ‘Lord of Leicester’: Saccharissa’s father. He was employed at this time in foreign service. [2] ‘Thetis’ son’: Achilles.