Love
Madrigal II: Verbal Love
From A Poetical Rhapsody (1602), ed. A. H. Bullen (1890–91)
If love be made of words, as woods of trees,
Who more beloved than I?
If love be hot where true desire doth freeze,
Who more than she doth fry?
Are drones that make no honey counted bees?
Is running water dry?
Is that a gainful trade that has no fees?
He live, that dead doth lie?
What else but blind is he that nothing sees?
But deaf that hears no cry?
Such is her vowed love to me,
Yet must I think it true to be.
Codex Note
Credited to "A. W." in Francis Davison's own manuscript list (Bullen prints the initials in square brackets).
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Elizabethan miscellanies). “Madrigal II: Verbal Love.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-miscellanies/60/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Elizabethan miscellanies). “Madrigal II: Verbal Love.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-miscellanies/60/.
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