Love

Love is a bable

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

Love is a bable,
No man is able
To say 'tis this or 'tis that;
So full of passions
Of sundry fashions,
'Tis like I cannot tell what.

Love's fair in the cradle,
Foul in the fable,
'Tis either too cold or too hot;
An arrant liar,
Fed by desire,
It is and yet it is not.

Love is a fellow
Clad oft in yellow,
The canker-worm of the mind,
A privy mischief,
And such a sly thief
No man knows which way to find.

Love is a wonder
That's here and yonder,
As common to one as to moe;
A monstrous cheater,
Every man's debtor;
Hang him and so let him go.

✦ ✦ ✦

From Robert Jones' Second Book of Songs and Airs, 1601.

MLA

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “Love is a bable.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/79/.

Chicago

Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “Love is a bable.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/79/.

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