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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO THE LADY MAY by AURELIAN TOWNSEND

First Line: YOUR SMILES ARE NOT, AS OTHER WOMEN'S BE
Last Line: "SO SMILES THE SPRING AND SO SMILES LOVELY MAY."
Subject(s): SMILES;

YOUR smiles are not, as other women's be,
Only the drawing of the mouth awry;
For breasts and cheeks and forehead may we see,
Parts wanting motion, all stand smiling by:
Heaven hath no mouth, and yet is said to smile
After your style:
No more hath earth, yet that smiles too,
Just as you do.

No simpering lips nor looks can breed
Such smiles as from your face proceed:
The sun must lend his golden beams,
Soft winds their breath, green trees their shade,
Sweet fields their flowers, clear springs their streams,
Ere such another smile be made:
But these concurring, we may say
"So smiles the spring and so smiles lovely May."



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