Love

Though Amaryllis dance in green

by Anonymous (Elizabethan songs) c. 1588–1630

From Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1891)

Love

Though Amaryllis dance in green
Like Fairy Queen,
And sing full clear;
Corinna can, with smiling cheer.
Yet since their eyes make heart so sore,
Hey ho! chil love no more.

My sheep are lost for want of food
And I so wood
That all the day
I sit and watch a herd-maid gay;
Who laughs to see me sigh so sore,
Hey ho! chil love no more.

Her loving looks, her beauty bright,
Is such delight!
That all in vain
I love to like, and lose my gain
For her, that thanks me not therefore.
Hey ho! chil love no more.

Ah wanton eyes! my friendly foes
And cause of woes;
Your sweet desire
Breeds flames of ice, and freeze in fire!
Ye scorn to see me weep so sore!
Hey ho! chil love no more.

Love ye who list, I force him not:
Since God is wot,
The more I wail,
The less my sighs and tears prevail.
What shall I do? but say therefore,
Hey ho! chil love no more.

✦ ✦ ✦

From William Byrd's Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety, 1588.

MLA

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “Though Amaryllis dance in green.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/146/.

Chicago

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “Though Amaryllis dance in green.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/146/.

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