My Favorite Romatic Poem

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love a poem
by Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of th purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.


Christopher Marlowe(1564 - 1593) English Dramatist, Spy, Poet

Marlowe was one of the dramatists who made the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st brilliant in English history. You will find The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd a poem by Sir Walter Raleigh worth reading as it was written as a direct reply to this poem ! The word madrigals means songs and a kirtle was a kind of petticoat, often of a bright colour, fine material, and beautiful embroidery, worn above the gown. Marlowe was probably the first of the "Gentlemen Spies" an era which ended with post WWII. Ian Fleming's James Bond was said to represent the last of that dying breed. Marlowe died in a knife fight in a Tavern. No one knows if it had anything to do with work for Queen and Country or was a case of wrong place wrong time.