Love

Madrigal: Allusion to the Confusion of Babel

by Francis Davison c. 1575–c. 1619

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

Love

The wretched life I live,
In my weak senses such confusion maketh,
That, like the accursed rabble
That built the tower of Babel,
My wit mistaketh.
And unto nothing a right name doth give.

I term her my dear love, that deadly hates me
My chiefest good, her that's my chiefest evil;
Her saint and goddess, who's a witch, a devil;
Her my sole hope, that with despair amates me;
My balm I call her, that with poison fills me;
And her I term my life, that daily kills me.

MLA

Davison, Francis. “Madrigal: Allusion to the Confusion of Babel.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/davison/58/.

Chicago

Davison, Francis. “Madrigal: Allusion to the Confusion of Babel.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/davison/58/.

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