Love
A shepherd in a shade his plaining made
From Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1891)
A shepherd in a shade his plaining made
Of love and lover's wrong
Unto the fairest lass that trod on grass,
And thus began his song:
"Since Love and Fortune will, I honour still
Your fair and lovely eye:
What conquest will it be, sweet Nymph, for thee
If I for sorrow die?
Restore, restore my heart again
Which love by thy sweet looks hath slain,
Lest that, enforced by your disdain,
I sing 'Fie on love! it is a foolish thing.'
"My heart where have you laid? O cruel maid,
To kill when you might save!
Why have ye cast it forth as nothing worth,
Without a tomb or grave?
O let it be entombed and lie
In your sweet mind and memory,
Lest I resound on every warbling string
'Fie, fie on love! that is a foolish thing.'
Restore, restore my heart again
Which love by thy sweet looks hath slain,
Lest that, enforced by your disdain,
I sing 'Fie on love! it is a foolish thing.'"
Codex Note
From John Dowland's Second Book of Songs or Airs, 1600.
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “A shepherd in a shade his plaining made.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/8/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Elizabethan songs). “A shepherd in a shade his plaining made.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-songs/8/.
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