English Poetry I: From Chaucer to Gray.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
| |
| 77. What Guile Is This? |
| | | Edmund Spenser (1552–1599) |
| |
| |
| WHAT guile is this, that those her golden tresses | |
| She doth attire under a net of gold; | |
| And with sly skill so cunningly them dresses, | |
| That which is gold or hair may scarce be told? | |
| Is it that men’s frail eyes, which gaze too bold, | 5 |
| She may entangle in that golden snare; | |
| And, being caught, may craftily enfold | |
| Their weaker hearts, which are not well aware? | |
| Take heed, therefore, mine eyes, how ye do stare | |
| Henceforth too rashly on that guileful net, | 10 |
| In which, if ever ye entrappèd are, | |
| Out of her bands ye by no means shall get. | |
| Fondness it were for any, being free, | |
| To cover fetters, though they golden be. | |
| |
|
|
|
