The Poetry Corner

Have You Seen But A Bright Lily Grow

By Ben Jonson

Have you seen but a bright lily grow Before rude hands have touched it? Have you marked but the fall of snow Before the soil hath smutched it? Have you felt the wool of beaver, Or swans down ever? Or have smelt o the bud o the brier, Or the nard in the fire? Or have tasted the bag of the bee? O so white, O so soft, O so sweet is she!