Love
Though Amaryllis dance in green
From Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1891)
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.
Codex Note
From William Byrd's Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety, 1588.
Cite this poem
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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