ON A GIRDLE by Edmund Waller That which her slender waist confined Shall now my joyful temples bind : No monarch but would give his crown, His arms might do what this has done. It was my heaven's extremest sphere, The pale which held that lovely deer : My joy, my grief, my hope, my love, Did all within this circle move ! A narrow compass ! and yet there Dwelt all that's good, and all that's fair : Give me but what this ribband bound, Take all the rest the sun goes round ! Massingham, H. J., ed. A Treasury of Seventeeth Century English Verse. London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1931. 245-246. Site copyright © 1996-2003 Anniina Jokinen. All Rights Reserved. Created by Anniina Jokinen on March 10, 2003. |