Modernized by H. Macaulay Fitzgibbon
IF ye would love and lovèd be,
In mind keep well these thingis three,
And sadly in thy breast imprint,—
Be secret, true and patient!
For he that patience can not leir,
He shall displeasance have perquier,
Though he had all this worldis rent:
Be secret, true and patient!
For who that...
From the German by Alexander Barclay
A FOLE he is and voyde of reason
Whiche with one hounde tendyth to take
Two harys in one instant and season;
Rightso is he that wolde undertake
Hym to two lordes a servaunt to make;
For whether that he be lefe or lothe,
The one he shall displease, or els bothe.
A fole also he is...
From the French by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
TELL me now in what hidden way is
Lady Flora the lovely Roman?
Where ’s Hipparchia, and where is Thais,
Neither of them the fairer woman?
Where is Echo, beheld of no man,
Only heard on river and mere,—
She whose beauty was more than human?
But where are the snows of yester-year?...
From the Italian by William Wetmore Story
IN facile natures fancies quickly grow,
But such quick fancies have but little root.
Soon the narcissus flowers and dies, but slow
The tree whose blossoms shall mature to fruit.
Grace is a moment’s happy feeling, Power
A life’s slow growth; and we for many an hour
Must strain and toil, and wait...
Modernized by Hugh Haliburton
Full oft I muse and hes in thocht.
THE PASSAGE of the speeding year,
And Fortune with her changing cheer,
Are ills on ilka hand contest;
We will not mourn for that, my dear,
But to be blythe we ’ll count it best.
Fast as this warld fleets awa’
As fast her wheel does Fortune ca’,
At no...
