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A poem by Henry Noel (Elizabethan   

Courtier)

Gaze not on Swans

Gaze not on swans in whose soft breast
A full hatcht beauty seems to nest,
Nor snow which falling from the sky,
Hovers in its virginity.

Gaze not on roses though new blown
Grac’d with a fresh complexion,
Nor lilly which no subtle bee
Hath rob'd by kissing chemistry.

Gaze not on that pure milky way
Where night vies splendour with the day,
Nor pearls whose silver walls confine
The riches of an Indian mine.

For if my emperesse appears
Swans moultring dy, snow melts to tears,
Roses do blush and hang their heads,
Pale lillyes shrink into their beds;

The milky way rides past to shrowd
Its baffled glory in a clowd, 
And pearls do climb into her eare,
To hang themselves for envy there.

So have I seene stars big with light,
Proud lanthorns to the moone-ey’d night,
Which when Sol's rays were once display'd,
Sunk in their sockets and decay'd.

Henry Noel 
(courtier to Queen Elizabeth 1)
Died:1597

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Gretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities in life, one day at a time.  She shares with you snippets from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new locations, to explore churches, cathedrals and architecture.  We’ve reached over 80,000 downloads.  

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Previous guests include  historian Tom Holland; Sir Richard Eyre; Actors Guy Henry and Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Writer David Willem; Author Nicola Cornick; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela T...