Love
Oft have I mused the cause to find
From Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1891)
Oft have I mused the cause to find
Why Love in lady's eyes should dwell;
I thought, because himself was blind,
He look'd that they should guide him well:
And sure his hope but seldom fails,
For Love by ladies' eyes prevails.
But time at last hath taught me wit,
Although I bought my wit full dear;
For by her eyes my heart is hit,
Deep is the wound though none appear:
Their glancing beams as darts he throws,
And sure he hath no shafts but those.
I mused to see their eyes so bright,
And little thought they had been fire;
I gazed upon them with delight,
But that delight hath bred desire:
What better place can Love desire
Than that where grow both shafts and fire?
Codex Note
From Robert Jones' Ultimum Vale or Third Book of Airs (1608).
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “Oft have I mused the cause to find.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/101/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “Oft have I mused the cause to find.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/101/.
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