We be three poor mariners,
We care not for those martial men
That do our states disdain;
But we care for the merchant men
Who do our states maintain:
To them we dance this round, around,
To them we dance this round;
And he that is a bully boy
Come pledge me on this ground!
We must not part as others do,
True love hath wings, and can as soon
Survey the world as sun and moon,
And everywhere our triumphs keep
O’er absence which makes others weep:
By which alone a power is given
To live on earth, as they in heaven.
From Thomas Weelkes’ Ballets and Madrigals to Five Voices, 1598.
We shepherds sing, we pipe, we play,
From William Byrd’s Psalms, Songs, and Sonnets, 1611.
Wedded to will is witless,
From Thomas Tomkins’ Songs of Three, Four, Five, and Six Parts, 1622.