How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame Which, like a canker in the fragrant rose, Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name! O, in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose! That tongue that tells the story of thy days, Making lascivious comments on thy sport, Cannot dispraise but in a kind of praise; Naming thy name blesses an ill report. O, what a mansion have those vices got Which for their habitation chose out thee, Where beauty's veil doth cover every blot, And all things turn to fair that eyes can see! Take heed, dear heart, of this large privilege; The hardest knife ill-used doth lose his edge. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY FATHER'S FACE by HAYDEN CARRUTH LET ME NOT LOSES MY DREAM by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE OLD BRIDGE AT FLORENCE; SONNET by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW PICCIOLA by ROBERT HENRY NEWELL IT IS ENOUGH by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS THERE IS NOTHING STRANGE by ARCHILOCHUS RIDDLE by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 17. THE CHILD by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |