Of all the endless country ways;
Of everything alas! save thee.
IV
The sky is up above the roof
So blue, so soft!
A tree there, up above the roof,
Swayeth aloft.
A bell within that sky we see,
Chimes low and faint:
A bird upon that tree we see,
Maketh complaint.
Dear God! is not the life up there,
Simple and sweet?
How peacefully are borne up there
Sounds of the street!
What hast thou done, who comest
To weep alway?
Where hast thou laid, who comest here,
Thy youth away?
TO HIS MISTRESS
There comes an end to summer,
To spring showers and hoar rime;
His mumming to each mummer
Has somewhere end in time,
And since life ends and laughter,
And leaves fall and tears dry,
Who shall call love immortal,
When all that is must die?
Nay, sweet, let's leave unspoken
The vows the fates gainsay,
For all vows made are broken,
We love but while we may.
Let's kiss when kissing pleases,
And part when kisses pall,
Perchance, this time to-morrow,
We shall not love at all.
You ask my love completest,
As strong next year as now,
The devil take you, sweetest,
Ere I make aught such vow.
Life is a masque that changes,
A fig for constancy!
No love at all were better,
Than love which is not free.