Living

Ding Dong, Dong

by Anonymous (Elizabethan songs) c. 1588–1630

From Lyrics from the Dramatists of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1889)

Living

Whilst we sing the doleful knell
Of this princess' passing-bell,
Let the woods and valleys ring
Echoes to our sorrowing;
And the tenor of their song,
Be ding dong, ding, dong, dong,
Ding dong, dong,
Ding, dong.

Nature now shall boast no more
Of the riches of her store,
Since in this her chiefest prize,
All the stock of beauty dies:
Then, what cruel heart can long
Forbear to sing this sad ding dong?
This sad ding dong,
Ding dong.

Fauns and sylvans of the woods,
Nymphs that haunt the crystal floods,
Savage beasts more milder then
The unrelenting hearts of men,
Be partakers of our moan,
And with us sing ding dong, ding dong,
Ding dong, dong,
Ding dong.

✦ ✦ ✦

From the anonymous play Swetnam, the Woman-Hater (Bullen gives no author).

MLA

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “Ding Dong, Dong.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/3/.

Chicago

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “Ding Dong, Dong.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/3/.

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