Love

I joy not in no earthly bliss

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

I joy not in no earthly bliss,
I force not Croesus' wealth a straw;
For care I know not what it is
I fear not Fortune's fatal law:
My mind is such as may not move
For beauty bright nor force of love.

I wish but what I have at will,
I wander not to seek for more;
I like the plain, I climb no hill;
In greatest storms I sit on shore
And laugh at them that toil in vain
To get what must be lost again.

I kiss not where I wish to kill;
I feign not love where most I hate;
I break no sleep to win my will;
I wait not at the mighty's gate;
I scorn no poor, nor fear no rich;
I feel no want, nor have too much.

The court and cart I like nor loath;
Extremes are counted worst of all;
The golden mean between them both
Doth surest sit and fears no fall.
This is my choice: for why? I find
No wealth is like the quiet mind.

✦ ✦ ✦

From William Byrd's Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety, 1588.

MLA

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “I joy not in no earthly bliss.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/52/.

Chicago

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “I joy not in no earthly bliss.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/52/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Anonymous (Elizabethan songs)