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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=374403" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Prothalamion</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Calm was the day, and through the trembling air<br>Sweet-breathing Zephyrus did softly play<br>A gentle spirit, that lightly did delay<br>Hot Titan's beams, which then did glister fair;<br>When I (whom sullen care,<br>Through discontent of my long fruitless stay<br>In prince's court, and expectation vain<br>Of idle hopes, which still do fly away<br>Like empty shadows, did afflict my brain),<br>Walk'd forth to ease my pain<br>Along the shore of silver-streaming Thames;<br>Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems,<br>Was painted all with variable flowers,<br>And all the meads adorn'd with dainty gems<br>Fit to deck maidens' bowers,<br>And crown their paramours,<br>Against the bridal day, which is not long:<br>Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There, in a meadow, by the river's side,<br>A flock of nymphs I chanced to espy,<br>All lovely daughters of the flood thereby,<br>With goodly greenish locks, all loose untied,<br>As each had been a bride;<br>And each one had a little wicker basket,<br>Made of fine twigs, entrailed curiously,<br>In which they gathered flowers to fill their flasket,<br>And with fine fingers cropt full feateously<br>The tender stalks on high.<br>Of every sort, which in that meadow grew,<br>They gathered some; the violet, pallid blue,<br>The little daisy, that at evening closes,<br>The virgin lily, and the primrose true,<br>With store of vermeil roses,<br>To deck their bridegrooms' posies<br>Against the bridal day, which was not long:<br>Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">With that I saw two swans of goodly hue<br>Come softly swimming down along the Lee;<br>Two fairer birds I yet did never see;<br>The snow which doth the top of Pindus strew,<br>Did never whiter shew,<br>Nor Jove himself, when he a swan would be,<br>For love of Leda, whiter did appear;<br>Yet Leda was (they say) as white as he,<br>Yet not so white as these, nor nothing near;<br>So purely white they were,<br>That even the gentle stream, the which them bare,<br>Seem'd foul to them, and bad his billows spare<br>To wet their silken feathers, lest they might<br>Soil their fair plumes with water not so fair,<br>And mar their beauties bright,<br>That shone as heaven's light,<br>Against their bridal day, which was not long:<br>Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Eftsoons the nymphs, which now had flowers their fill,<br>Ran all in haste to see that silver brood,<br>As they came floating on the crystal flood;<br>Whom when they saw, they stood amazed still,<br>Their wond'ring eyes to fill;<br>Them seem'd they never saw a sight so fair,<br>Of fowls so lovely, that they sure did deem<br>Them heavenly born, or to be that same pair<br>Which through the sky draw Venus' silver team;<br>For sure they did not seem<br>To be begot of any earthly seed,<br>But rather angels, or of angels' breed;<br>Yet were they bred of Somers-heat, they say,<br>In sweetest season, when each flower and weed<br>The earth did fresh array;<br>So fresh they seem'd as day,<br>Even as their bridal day, which was not long:<br>Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then forth they all out of their baskets drew<br>Great store of flowers, the honour of the field,<br>That to the sense did fragrant odours yield,<br>All which upon those goodly birds they threw<br>And all the waves did strew,<br>That like old Peneus' waters they did seem,<br>When down along by pleasant Tempe's shore,<br>Scatt'red with flowers, through Thessaly they stream,<br>That they appear through lilies' plenteous store,<br>Like a bride's chamber floor.<br>Two of those nymphs, meanwhile, two garlands bound<br>Of freshest flowers which in that mead they found,<br>The which presenting all in trim array,<br>Their snowy foreheads therewithal they crown'd,<br>Whilst one did sing this lay,<br>Prepar'd against that day,<br>Against their bridal day, which was not long:<br>Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;Ye gentle birds, the world's fair ornament<br>And heaven's glory, whom this happy hour<br>Doth lead unto your lovers' blissful bower,<br>Joy may you have, and gentle heart's content<br>Of your love's complement;<br>And let fair Venus, that is Queen of Love,<br>With her heart-quelling son upon you smile,<br>Whose smile, they say, hath virtue to remove<br>All love's dislike, and friendship's faulty guile<br>For ever to assoil.<br>Let endless Peace your steadfast hearts accord,<br>And blessed Plenty wait upon your board:<br>And let your bed with pleasures chaste abound,<br>That fruitful issue may to you afford,<br>Which may your foes confound,<br>And make your joys redound<br>Upon your bridal day, which is not long:<br>Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So ended she; and all the rest around<br>To her redoubled that her undersong,<br>Which said their bridal day should not be long;<br>And gentle Echo from the neighbour ground<br>Their accents did resound.<br>So forth those joyous birds did pass along,<br>Adown the Lee, that to them murmur'd low,<br>As he would speak, but that he lack'd a tongue,<br>Yet did by signs his glad affection show,<br>Making his stream run slow.<br>And all the fowl which in his flood did dwell<br>Gan flock about these twain, that did excel<br>The rest, so far as Cynthia doth shend<br>The lesser stars. So they, enranged well,<br>Did on those two attend,<br>And their best service lend<br>Against their wedding day, which was not long:<br>Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">At length they all to merry London came,<br>To merry London, my most kindly nurse,<br>That to me gave this life's first native source,<br>Though from another place I take my name,<br>An house of ancient fame.<br>There when they came, whereas those bricky towers<br>The which on Thames' broad aged back do ride,<br>Where now the studious lawyers have their bowers,<br>There whilom wont the Templar Knights to bide,<br>Till they decay'd through pride:<br>Next whereunto there stands a stately place,<br>Where oft I gained gifts and goodly grace<br>Of that great lord, which therein wont to dwell,<br>Whose want too well now feels my friendless case:<br>But ah! here fits not well<br>Old woes, but joys, to tell<br>Against the bridal day, which is not long:<br>Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet therein now doth lodge a noble peer,<br>Great England's glory, and the world's wide wonder,<br>Whose dreadful name late through all Spain did thunder,<br>And Hercules' two pillars standing near<br>Did make to quake and fear:<br>Fair branch of honour, flower of chivalry,<br>That fillest England with thy triumph's fame,<br>Joy have thou of thy noble victory,<br>And endless happiness of thine own name<br>That promiseth the same;<br>That through thy prowess, and victorious arms,<br>Thy country may be freed from foreign harms;<br>And great Eliza's glorious name may ring<br>Through all the world, fill'd with thy wide alarms,<br>Which some brave Muse may sing<br>To ages following,<br>Upon the bridal day, which is not long:<br>Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">From those high towers this noble lord issuing,<br>Like radiant Hesper, when his golden hair<br>In th' ocean billows he hath bathed fair,<br>Descended to the river's open viewing,<br>With a great train ensuing.<br>Above the rest were goodly to be seen<br>Two gentle knights of lovely face and feature,<br>Beseeming well the bower of any queen,<br>With gifts of wit, and ornaments of nature,<br>Fit for so goodly stature,<br>That like the twins of Jove they seem'd in sight,<br>Which deck the baldric of the heavens bright;<br>They two, forth pacing to the river's side,<br>Receiv'd those two fair brides, their love's delight;<br>Which, at th' appointed tide,<br>Each one did make his bride<br>Against their bridal day, which is not long:<br>Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Edmund+Spenser">Edmund Spenser</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=374403" data-title="Prothalamion de Edmund Spenser" data-description="Calm was the day, and through the trembling air
Sweet-breathing Zephyrus did softly play
A gentle spirit, that lightly did delay
Hot Titan's beams, which then did glister fair;
When I (whom sullen care,
Through discontent of my long fruitless stay..."></div>
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