Poems, by Andrew Marvell

MY mind was once the true survey

Of all these meadows fresh and gay,

And in the greenness of the grass

Did see its hopes as in a glass;

When JULIANA came, and she,

What I do to the grass, does to my thoughts and me.

But these, while I with sorrow pine,

Grew more luxuriant still and fine,

That not one blade of grass you spied,

But had a flower on either side;10

When JULIANA came, and she,

What I do to the grass, does to my thoughts and me.

Unthankful meadows, could you so

A fellowship so true forego,

And in your gaudy May-games meet,

While I lay trodden under feet?

When JULIANA came, and she,

What I do to the grass, does to my thoughts and me?

But what you in compassion ought,

Shall now by my revenge be wrought;20

And flowers, and grass, and I, and all,

Will in one common ruin fall;

For JULIANA comes, and she,

What I do to the grass, does to my thoughts and me.

And thus, ye meadows, which have been

Companions of my thoughts more green,

Shall now the heraldry become

With which I shall adorn my tomb;

For JULIANA came, and she,30

What I do to the grass, does to my thoughts and me.