Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 18801918. Vol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden | | Upon Combing Her Hair | By Lord Herbert of Cherbury (15831648) |
| BREAKING from under that thy cloudy veil, | |
Open and shine yet more, shine out more clear, | |
Thou glorious, golden beam of darling hair, | |
Even till my wonder-stricken senses fail. | |
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Shine out in light, and shine those rays on far, | 5 |
Thou much more fair than is the Queen of Love | |
When she doth comb her on her sphere above, | |
And from a planet turns a blazing star. | |
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Nay, thou art greater too, more destiny | |
Depends on thee, than on her influence; | 10 |
No hair thy fatal hand doth now dispense | |
But to some one a thread of life must be. | |
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While gracious unto me, thou both dost sunder | |
Those glories which, if they united were, | |
Might have amazed sense, and shewst each hair | 15 |
Which if alone had been too great a wonder. | |
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But stay, methinks new beauties do arise | |
While she withdraws these glories which were spread; | |
Wonder of beauties, set thy radiant head, | |
And strike out day from thy yet fairer eyes. | 20 | | |
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