Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Thomas Carew (1595?–1639?)

In Praise of His Mistress

YOU that will a wonder know,

Go with me;

Two suns in a heaven of snow

Both burning be,—

All they fire that do but eye them,

Yet the snow ’s unmelted by them.

Leaves of crimson tulips met

Guide the way

Where two pearly rows be set,

As white as day;

When they part themselves asunder

She breathes oracles of wonder.

All this but the casket is

Which contains

Such a jewel, as to miss

Breeds endless pains,—

That ’s her mind, and they that know it

May admire, but cannot show it.