Love

Ode: His Restless Estate

by Francis Davison c. 1575–c. 1619

From A Poetical Rhapsody (1602), ed. A. H. Bullen (1890–91)

Love

Your presence breeds my anguish,
Your absence makes me languish:
Your sight with woe doth fill me;
And want of your sweet sight, alas, doth kill me.

If those dear eyes that burn me,
With mild aspect you turn me,
For life my weak heart panteth;
If frowningly, my sp'rit and life-blood fainteth.

If you speak kindly to me,
Alas! kind words undo me:
Yet silence doth dislike me,
And one unkind ill word stark dead would strike me.

Thus, sun nor shade doth ease me;
Nor speech, nor silence please me:
Favours and frowns annoy me;
Both want and plenty equally destroy me.

MLA

Davison, Francis. “Ode: His Restless Estate.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/davison/55/.

Chicago

Davison, Francis. “Ode: His Restless Estate.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/davison/55/.

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