Madrigal 15. Nature’s pride, Love’s pearl, Virtue’s perfection

Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609)

NATURE’s pride, Love’s pearl, Virtue’s perfection,

In sweetness, beauty, grace,

Of body, face, affection

Hath glory, brightness, place

In rosy cheeks, clear eyes, and heavenly mind;

All which, with wonder, honour, praise, take race

To charm, to shine, to fly, with Fame’s protection.

Mine heart the first, mine eyes next, third my thought

Did wound, did blind, did bind;

Which grieved, obscured, and wrought

Heart, eyes, and senses with such imperfection,

That in their former comfort, sight, and kind

They moved, gazed, and sought,

Yet found not, in what order, sort, and case

Of tears, plaints, sighs, with seas, with murmur, wind

To find, to get, t’ embrace

Nature’s pride, Love’s pearl, Virtue’s perfection.