Whenas the Nightingale

Whenas the nightingale chanted her verses

And the wild forester couch'd on the ground,

Venus invited me in the evening whispers

Unto a fragrant field with roses crown'd,

Where she before had sent

My wishes' complement;

Unto my heart's content

Play'd with me on the green.

Never Mark Antony

Dallied more wantonly

With the fair Egyptian Queen.

First on her cherry cheeks I mine eyes feasted,

Thence fear of surfeiting made me retire;

Next on her warmer lips, which, when I tasted,

My duller spirits made me active as fire.

Then we began to dart,

Each at another's heart,

Arrows that knew no smart,

Sweet lips and smiles between.

Never Mark Antony

Dallied more wantonly

With the fair Egyptian Queen.

Wanting a glass to plait her amber tresses,

Which like a bracelet rich decked mine arm,

Gaudier than Juno wears whenas she graces

Jove with embraces more stately than warm,

Then did she peep in mine

Eyes' humor crystalline;

I in her eyes was seen

As if we one had been.

Never Mark Antony

Dallied more wantonly

With the fair Egyptian Queen.

Mystical grammar of amorous glances;

Feeling of pulses, the physic of love;

Rhetorical courtings and musical dances;

Numbering of kisses arithmetic prove;

Eyes like astronomy;

Straight-limb'd geometry;

In her arts' ingeny* ingenuity

Our wits were sharp and keen.

Never Mark Antony

Dallied more wantonly

With the fair Egyptian Queen.