THE SHEPHERD AND THE LADY.
Isobel.
Shepherd, if thou wouldst learn to woo a maid
In Love’s own way,
Follow young Cupid to the hawthorn shade
Some day in May,
And bid him tell thee true
What way were best to woo;
What a poor swain should do
When maids say nay.
Hubert.
Ah! could I find the bower where Love doth dwell
Beneath the May,
And could I plead to him, I know full well
What Love would say.
For he would bid me sigh,
And weep, and moan and cry,
And he would bid me die,
For that’s Love’s way.
Isobel.
Hast thou forgotten how in shepherd’s guise
One day in May,
Love taught a cruel maid with laughing eyes
To feel Love’s sway,
And when she thought to scorn
This lover lowly born
Love did not weep or mourn,
But laughed and turned away,
And singing when she sighed,
Love wept not when she cried
He cared not if she died
For that’s Love’s way!
Both.
O Love that came but yester eve,
If thou wilt go before to-morrow,
Then prithee go, but do not leave
My saddened heart to die of sorrow.
If thou wilt hide Love’s laughing eyes,
If we must lose Love’s magic spell,
Then take the burthen of our sighs,
And we will say Farewell! Farewell!