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Home  »  The World’s Best Poetry  »  “Take, O, take those lips away”

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

I. Disappointment in Love

“Take, O, take those lips away”

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) and John Fletcher (1579–1625)

TAKE, O, take those lips away,

That so sweetly were forsworn;

And those eyes, like break of day,

Lights that do mislead the morn;

But my kisses bring again,

Seals of love, but sealed in vain.

Hide, O, hide those hills of snow

Which thy frozen bosom bears,

On whose tops the pinks that grow

Are yet of those that April wears!

But first set my poor heart free,

Bound in those icy chains by thee.