The Primrose
by Thomas Carew

English Cavalier poet. His longest poem is 'A Rapture', which effectively combines wit and eroticism. His famous Elegy for John Donne was included in the first edition of Donne's Poems in 1633. He also wrote many lyrics and a masque, Coelum Britannicum (1634). Other Cavalier poets include Sir John Suckling, Robert Herrick and Richard Lovelace.

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The Primrose
by Thomas Carew

Ask me why I send you here
The firstling of the infant year;
Ask me why I send to you
This primrose all bepearled with dew:
I straight will whisper in your ears,
The sweets of love are washed with tears.
Ask me why this flower doth show
So yellow, green, and sickly too;
Ask me why the stalk is weak
And bending, yet it doth not break:
I must tell you, these discover
What doubts and fears are in a lover.

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The Primrose by Thomas Carew