Living

Vulcan's Song

by John Lyly 1554–1600

From Lyrics from the Dramatists of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1889)

Living

My shag-hair Cyclops, come, let's ply
Our Lemnian hammers lustily.
By my wife's sparrows,
I swear these arrows
Shall singing fly
Through many a wanton's eye.

These headed are with golden blisses,
These silver ones feathered with kisses;
But this of lead
Strikes a clown dead,
When in a dance
He falls in a trance,
To see his black-brow lass not buss him,
And then whines out for death t' untruss him.
So, so: our work being done, let's play:
Holiday, boys! cry holiday!

MLA

Lyly, John. “Vulcan's Song.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/lyly/3/.

Chicago

Lyly, John. “Vulcan's Song.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/lyly/3/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

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