Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

Canzonet (Author: Oscar Wilde)

p.126

1. I HAVE no store
   Of gryphon-guarded gold;
   Now, as before,
   Bare is the shepherd's fold.
   Rubies nor pearls
   Have I to gem thy throat;
   Yet woodland girls
   Have loved the shepherd's note.
2. Then pluck a reed
   And bid me sing to thee,
   For I would feed
   Thine ears with melody,
   Who art more fair

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   p.127

   Than fairest fleur-de-lys,
   More sweet and rare
   Than sweetest ambergris.
3. What cost thou fear?
   Young Hyacinth is slain,
   Pan is not here,
   And will not come again.
   No horned Faun
   Treads down the yellow leas,
   No God at dawn
   Steals through the olive trees.
4. Hylas is dead,
   Nor will he e'er divine
   Those little red
   Rose-petalled lips of thine.

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   p.128

   On the high hill
   No ivory dryads play,
   Silver and still
   Sinks the sad autumn day.