The burden of this song probably suggested the far more beautiful poem by George Wither, which follows:—
Shall I, Wasting in Despair.
(George Wither, born 1588, died 1667.)
Shall I, wasting in despair,
Die because a woman’s fair?
Or make pale my cheeks with care,
’Cause another’s rosy are?
Be she fairer than the day,
Or the flow’ry meads in May,
If she be not so to me,