| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | The Coronet | | By Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) |
| | | WHEN for the thorns with which I long, too long, | |
| With many a piercing wound, | |
| My Saviour’s head have crowned, | |
| I seek with garlands to redress that wrong,— | |
| Through every garden, every mead, | 5 |
| I gather flowers (my fruits are only flowers), | |
| Dismantling all the fragrant towers | |
| That once adorned my shepherdess’s head: | |
| And now, when I have summed up all my store, | |
| Thinking (so I myself deceive) | 10 |
| So rich a chaplet thence to weave | |
| As never yet the King of Glory wore, | |
| Alas! I find the Serpent old, | |
| That, twining in his speckled breast, | |
| About the flowers disguised, does fold | 15 |
| With wreaths of fame and interest. | |
| Ah, foolish man, that wouldst debase with them, | |
| And mortal glory, Heaven’s diadem! | |
| But thou who only couldst the Serpent tame, | |
| Either his slippery knots at once untie, | 20 |
| And disentangle all his winding snare, | |
| Or shatter too with him my curious frame, 1 | |
| And let these wither—so that he may die— | |
| Though set with skill, and chosen out with care; | |
| That they, while thou on both their spoils dost tread, | 25 |
| May crown Thy feet, that could not crown Thy head. | |
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