It is one of the longest poems in the English language and is an allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. It seems that she was so pleased with it that she gave him fifty pounds a year but there is no evidence that she actually read it. The verse I've chosen that seems appropriate for today is number XLI, (41).
The Faerie Queene, XLI
And after him came next the chill December,
Yet he, through merry feasting which he made
And great bonfires, did not the cold remember,
His Saviour's birth his mind so much did glad;
Upon a shaggy-bearded goat he rode,
The same where with Dan Jove in tender yeares,
They say was nourisht by th'la Mayd,
And in his hand a broad, deep bowl he beares,
Of which he freely drinks an health to all his peeres.'
Two poems today, this one is by Cristina Rossetti (1830-1894).
Hope and Joy
If hope grew on a bush
And joy grew on a tree,
What a nosegay for the plucking
There would be!
But oh! in windy Autumn
When frail flowers wither,
What should we do for hope and joy,
Fading together?
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