| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Speak, Thou Fairest Fair | | By John Fletcher (1579–1625) |
| | | DEAREST, 1 do not you delay me, | |
| Since, thou knowest, I must be gone; | |
| Wind and tide, ’tis thought, doth stay me, | |
| But ’tis wind that must be blown | |
| From that breath, whose native smell | 5 |
| Indian odours far excel. | |
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| Oh, then speak, thou fairest fair! | |
| Kill not him that vows to serve thee; | |
| But perfume this neighbouring air, | |
| Else dull silence, sure, will sterve me: 2 | 10 |
| ’Tis a word that’s quickly spoken, | |
| Which being restrained, a heart is broken. | |
| | | Note 1. From The Spanish Curate, act ii. sc. 2, 1622. [back] | | Note 2. sterve me: old form of starve, here retained for sake of rhyme. [back] | | |
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