Part 2 — ON A GIRDLE
Reading edition
That which her slender waist confined Shall now my joyful temples bind; No monarch but would give his crown His arms might do what this has done.
It was my Heaven's extremest sphere, The pale which held that lovely deer: My joy, my grief, my hope, my love, Did all within this circle move.
A narrow compass! and yet there Dwelt all that's good, and all that's fair! Give me but what this ribbon bound, Take all the rest the sun goes round!
Edmund Waller [1606-1687]