LET the bird of loudest lay,
On the sole Arabian tree,
Herald sad and trumpet be,
To whose sound chaste wings obey.
Contents
| Stanza 1 | LET the bird of loudest lay, |
| Stanza 2 | But thou shrieking harbinger, |
| Stanza 3 | From this session interdict |
| Stanza 4 | Let the priest in surplice white, |
| Stanza 5 | And thou treble-dated crow, |
| Stanza 6 | Here the anthem doth commence: |
| Stanza 7 | So they loved, as love in twain |
| Stanza 8 | Hearts remote, yet not asunder; |
| Stanza 9 | So between them love did shine, |
| Stanza 10 | Property was thus appalled, |
| Stanza 11 | Reason, in itself confounded, |
| Stanza 12 | That it cried, How true a twain |
| Stanza 13 | Whereupon it made this threne |
| Stanza 14 | Beauty, truth, and rarity, |
| Stanza 15 | Death is now the phoenix' nest; |
| Stanza 16 | Leaving no posterity: |
| Stanza 17 | Truth may seem, but cannot be: |
| Stanza 18 | To this urn let those repair |