Therefore, to make your beauty more appear,
It you behoves to love, and forth to lay
That heavenly riches which in you ye bear,
That men the more admire their fountain may;
For else what booteth that celestial ray,
If it in darkness be enshrined ever,
That it of loving eyes be viewed never?
From "A Hymn in Honor of Beauty" by Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)
I can't believe you are posting that bookplate without comment, M. Though I guess, what is there to say?
ReplyDeleteWell, I kinda thought of the bookplate as a comment on the poem -- the subtext of Spenser's verse :-)
ReplyDelete