Love

Ay me, can every rumour

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

Ay me, can every rumour
Thus start my lady's humour?
Name ye some galante to her,
Why straight forsooth I woo her.
Then burst[s] she forth in passion
"You men love but for fashion;"
Yet sure I am that no man
Ever so loved woman.
Then alas, Love, be wary,
For women be contrary.

✦ ✦ ✦

From John Wilbye's First Set of English Madrigals, 1598.

MLA

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “Ay me, can every rumour.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/16/.

Chicago

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “Ay me, can every rumour.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/16/.

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