Love
When younglings first on Cupid fix their sight
From Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1891)
When younglings first on Cupid fix their sight,
And see him naked, blindfold, and a boy,
Though bow and shafts and firebrand be his might,
Yet ween they he can work them none annoy;
And therefore with his purple wings they play,
For glorious seemeth love though light as feather,
And when they have done they ween to scape away,
For blind men, say they, shoot they know not whither.
But when by proof they find that he did see,
And that his wound did rather dim their sight,
They wonder more how such a lad as he
Should be of such surpassing power and might.
But ants have galls, so hath the bee his sting:
Then shield me, heavens, from such a subtle thing!
Codex Note
From William Byrd's Songs of Sundry Natures, 1589.
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “When younglings first on Cupid fix their sight.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/175/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “When younglings first on Cupid fix their sight.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/175/.
Read this poem with the Codex →