Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BUCOLIC COMEDY: FLEECING TIME, by EDITH SITWELL


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BUCOLIC COMEDY: FLEECING TIME, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Queen venus, like a bunch of roses
Last Line: "cried ""come and be fleeced -- each sheepish fool!"
Subject(s): Fleecing


QUEEN VENUS, like a bunch of roses,
Fat and pink, that splashed dew closes,

Underneath dark mulberry trees,
Wandered with the fair-haired breeze.

Among the dark leaves, preening wings,
Sit golden birds of light; each sings,

"Will you accept the blue muslin?"
As they peck the blackamoor mulberries' skin.

Then came a sheep like a sparkling cloud;
"Oh, ma'am, please, ma'am, sleek me proud,

Come fleece and comb my golden wool
And do not mind, ma'am, if you pull!"

Her flocks came thick as the mulberries
That grow on the dark, clear mulberry trees,

As thick as the daisies in the sky . . .
Prince Paris, Adonis; as each passed by

She cried, "Come feed on buds as cold
As my fleeced lamb-tailed river's gold,

And you shall dance like each golden bird
Of light that sings in dark trees unheard,

And you shall skip like my lamb-tailed river,
In my buttercup fields for ever."

The lady Venus, with hair thick as wool,
Cried "Come and be fleeced -- each sheepish fool!"





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net