Henry Constable Poems

DIAPHENIA, like the daffadowndilly,
White as the sun, fair as the lily,
Heigh ho, how I do love thee!
I do love thee as my lambs
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SUCH as, retired from sight of men, like thee
By penance seek the joys of heaven to win,
In deserts make their paradise begin
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WHEN thee (O holy sacrificed Lambe)
In severed sygnes I whyte and liquide see,
As on thy body slayne I thynke on thee,
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Venus fair did ride,
Silver doves they drew her
By the pleasant lawns,
Ere the sun did rise;
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GIVE pardon, blessed soul, to my bold cries,
If they, importune, interrupt thy song,
Which now with joyful notes thou sing'st among
The angel-quiristers of th' heavenly skies.
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