| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Discreet | | Anonymous |
| | | ‘OPEN 1 the door! Who’s there within? | |
| The fairest of thy mother’s kin? | |
| O come, come, come abroad | |
| And hear the shrill birds sing, | |
| The air with tunes that load. | 5 |
| It is too soon to go to rest, | |
| The sun not midway yet to west, | |
| The day doth miss thee | |
| And will not part until it kiss thee.’ | |
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| ‘Were I as fair as you pretend, | 10 |
| Yet to an unknown seld-seen friend | |
| I dare not ope the door: | |
| To hear the sweet birds sing | |
| Oft proves a dangerous thing. | |
| The sun may run his wonted race | 15 |
| And yet not gaze on my poor face; | |
| The day may miss me: | |
| Therefore depart, you shall not kiss me.’ | |
| | | Note 1. From Martin Peerson’s Private Music, 1620. Bodleian Library, Douce Collection. [back] | | |
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