John Skelton.

1460?-1529

37   To Mistress Margery Wentworth

WITH margerain¹ gentle,
    The flower of goodlihead,
Embroidered the mantle
    Is of your maidenhead.
Plainly I cannot glose;
    Ye be, as I divine,
The pretty primrose,
    The goodly columbine.

Benign, courteous, and meek,
    With wordes well devised;
In you, who list to seek,
    Be virtues well comprised.
With margerain gentle,
    The flower of goodlihead,
Embroidered the mantle
    Is of your maidenhead.

38   To Mistress Isabell Pennell

BY saint Mary, my lady,
    Your mammy and your daddy
Brought forth a goodly baby!
    My maiden Isabel,
Reflaring rosabel,
The flagrant camamel;
    The ruddy rosary,
The sovereign rosemary,
The pretty strawberry;
    The columbine, the nept,¹
The gilliflower well set,
The proper violet;
    Ennewed² your colour
Is like the daisy flower
After the April shower;
    Star of the morrow gray,
The blossom on the spray,
The freshest flower of May;
    Maidenly demure,
Of womanhood the lure;
Wherefore I make you sure,
    It were an hevenly health,
It were an endless wealth,
A life for God himself,
    To hear this nightingale,
Among the birds smale,
Warbling in the vale,
Dug, dug,
Iug, iug.
Good year and good luck,
With chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck!

39   To Mistress Margaret Hussey

    MERRY Margaret
    As midsummer flower,
    Gentle as falcon
    Or hawk of the tower:
With solace and gladness,
Much mirth and no madness,
All good and no badness;
    So joyously,
    So maidenly,
    So womanly
    Her demeaning
    In every thing,
    Far, far passing
    That I can indite,
    Or suffice to write
Of Merry Margaret
As midsummer flower
Gentle as falcon
Or hawk of the tower.
As patient and still
And as full of good will
As fair Isaphill,¹
Coliander,²
Sweet pomander,³
Good Cassander;⁴
Steadfast of thought,
Well made, well wrought,
Far may be sought,
Ere that ye can find
So courteous, so kind
As merry Margaret,
This midsummer flower,
Gentle as falcon
Or hawk of the tower.