The Wife of His Youth

"At length I saw a lady within call,Stiller than chisell'd marble, standing there;A daughter of the gods, divinely tall,And most divinely fair."

"O sweet pale Margaret,O rare pale Margaret."

"She seem'd a part of joyous Spring;A gown of grass-green silk she wore,Buckled with golden clasps before;A light-green tuft of plumes she boreClosed in a golden ring.

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"She look'd so lovely, as she sway'dThe rein with dainty finger-tips,A man had given all other bliss,And all his worldly worth for this,To waste his whole heart in one kissUpon her perfect lips."

"'This above all: to thine own self be true,And it must follow, as the night the day,Thou canst not then be false to any man.'