Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships by Christopher Marlowe
I’m really quite surprised I haven’t posted this before. Stash used to print the quote in my icon on their orange starfruit chamomile teabags, and I think it’s lovely. Here it is in (slightly) larger context.
Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships
FROM THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS, ACT V SCENE I
By Christopher Marlowe
Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?—
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.—
Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies!—
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.
Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena.
I will be Paris, and for love of thee,
Instead of Troy, shall Wittenberg be sack’d;
And I will combat with weak Menelaus,
And wear thy colours on my plumed crest;
Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,
And then return to Helen for a kiss.
O, thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars;
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter
When he appear’d to hapless Semele;
More lovely than the monarch of the sky
In wanton Arethusa’s azur’d arms;
And none but thou shalt be my paramour!
Current Tea: Thai iced tea (a new discovery at the Tea Embassy yesterday and I’m really excited about it!)
