Death & Dying
Come, shepherd swains, that wont to hear me sing
From Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1891)
Come, shepherd swains, that wont to hear me sing,
Now sigh and groan!
Dead is my Love, my Hope, my Joy, my Spring;
Dead, dead, and gone!
O, She that was your Summer's Queen,
Your days' delight,
Is gone and will no more be seen;
O, cruel spite!
Break all your pipes that wont to sound
With pleasant cheer,
And cast yourselves upon the ground
To wail my Dear!
Come, shepherd swains, come, nymphs, and all a-row
To help me cry:
Dead is my Love, and, seeing She is so,
Lo, now I die!
Codex Note
From John Wilbye's Second Set of Madrigals, 1609.
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “Come, shepherd swains, that wont to hear me sing.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/27/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “Come, shepherd swains, that wont to hear me sing.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/27/.
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