Jordan (1)

by




Who says that fictions only and false hair
Become a verse? Is there in truth no beauty?
Is all good structure in a winding stair?
May no lines pass, expect they do their duty
        Not to a true, but painted chair?

Is it no verse, except enchanted groves
And sudden arbors shadow coarse-spun lines?
Must purling streams refresh a lover's loves?
Must all be veiled, while he that reads, divines,
        Catching the sense at two removes?

Shepherds are honest people: let them sing;
Riddle who list, for me, and pull for prime:
I envy no man's nightingale or spring;
Not let them punish me with loss of rhyme,
       Who plainly say, My God, My King.

-Jordan (1) by George Herbert