Thou art but young, thou say’st,
If love shall then assail thee,
A double anguish will torment thee;
And thou wilt wish (but wishes all will fail thee,)
“O me! that I were young again!” and so repent thee.
From Campion and Rosseter’s Book of Airs, 1601. (Ascribed to Dr. Donne.)
Thou art not fair, for all thy red and white,
Yet love not me, nor seek not to allure
My thoughts with beauty were it more divine;
Thy smiles and kisses I cannot endure,
I’ll not be wrapped up in those arms of thine:
Now show it, if thou be a woman right,—
Embrace and kiss and love me in despite.
From John Danyel’s Songs for the Lute, Viol, and Voice, 1606.
Thou pretty Bird, how do I see
From William Byrd’s Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety, 1588.
Though Amaryllis dance in green
My sheep are lost for want of food
And I so wood[19]
That all the day
I sit and watch a herd-maid gay;
Who laughs to see me sigh so sore,
Hey ho! chil love no more.