Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/157

 EDMUND SPENSER

Hymen, io Hymen, Hymen, they do shout;

That even to the heavens theyr shouting shrill

Doth reach, and all the firmament doth fill;

To which the people standing all about,

As in approvance, doe thereto applaud,

And loud advaunce her laud;

And evermore they Hymen, Hymen sing,

That al the woods them answer, and theyr eccho ring.

Loel where she comes along with portly pace,

Lykc Phoebe, from her chamber of the East,

Arysing forth to run her mighty race,

Clad all in while, that secmes a virgin best.

So well it her beseemes, that ye would weene

Some angcll she had beene.

Her long loo&e yellow locks lyke golden wyre,

Sprinckled with perle, and perlmg fiowres atweene,

Doe Jyke a golden mantle her attyre,

And, being crowned with a girland greene,

Sccme lyke some mayden Quecne.

Her modest eyes, abashed to behold

So many gazers as on her do stare.

Upon the lowly ground affixed are;

Ne dare lift up her countenance too bold,

But blush to hcarc her prayscs sung so loud,

So farre from being proud.

Nathlesse doe ye still loud her prayses sing,

That all the woods may answer, and your eccho ring.

Tell me, ye merchants daughters, did ye see So fayre a creature in your towne before, So sweet, so lovely, and so mild as she, Adorned with beautyes grace and vertues store?

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