Читать книгу Best Loved Hymns and Readings - Martin Manser - Страница 29

Christopher Marlowe was first and foremost a playwright, the first great dramatist of the Elizabethan era and a major influence on the early work of William Shakespeare. This sensuous poem in praise of love, first published in 1599, is something of an oddity in his output. He appears to have written no other short poems and what we know of his life is completely at odds with the peaceable pastoral scene evoked here – though Marlowe’s subject must have been better off than the average shepherd to be able to offer his love golden buckles and silver dishes.

Come live with me and be my love,

And we will all the pleasures prove

That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,

Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,

Seeing shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow rivers to whose falls

Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses

And a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle.

A gown made of the finest wool,

Which from our pretty lambs we pull,

Fair lined slippers for the cold:

With buckles of the purest gold.

A belt of straw, and ivy buds,

With coral clasps and amber studs,

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me, and be my love.

The shepherd’s swains shall dance and sing,

For thy delight each May-morning,

If these delights thy mind may move;

Then live with me, and be my love.

Christopher Marlowe (1564-93)