Poesi på en söndag

Ben Jonson (1572-1637). Porträttet är målat av Abraham Blyenberch och finns att se på National Portrait Gallery i London. Här en av Ben Jonsons vackraste dikter.

Have you seen but a bright lily grow
Before rude hands have touched it?
Have you marked but the fall of snow
Before the soil hath smutched it?
Have you felt the wool of beaver,
Or swan's down ever?
Or have smelt o' the bud o' the brier,
Or the nard in the fire?
Or have tasted the bag of the bee?
O so white, O so soft, O so sweet is she!