Love
What needeth all this travail and turmoiling
From Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1891)
What needeth all this travail and turmoiling,
Short'ning the life's sweet pleasure
To seek this far-fetched treasure
In those hot climates under Phoebus broiling?
O fools, can you not see a traffic nearer
In my sweet lady's face, where Nature showeth
Whatever treasure eye sees or heart knoweth?
Rubies and diamonds dainty
And orient pearls such plenty,
Coral and ambergreece sweeter and dearer
Than which the South Seas or Moluccas lend us,
Or either Indies, East or West, do send us!
Codex Note
From John Wilbye's Madrigals, 1598.
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “What needeth all this travail and turmoiling.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/169/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “What needeth all this travail and turmoiling.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/169/.
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