Classic Poem

O WHAT a plague is love!
   How shall I bear it?
She will inconstant prove,
   I greatly fear it.
She so torments my mind
   That my strength faileth,
And wavers with the wind
   As a ship saileth.
Please her the best I may,
She loves still to gainsay;
Alack and well-a-day!
   Phillada flouts me.

At the fair yesterday
   She did pass by me;
She look'd another way
   And would not spy me:
I woo'd her for to dine,
   But could not get her;
Will had her to the wine--
   He might entreat her.
With Daniel she did dance,
On me she look'd askance:
O thrice unhappy chance!
   Phillada flouts me.

Fair maid, be not so coy,
   Do not disdain me!
I am my mother's joy:
   Sweet, entertain me!
She'll give me, when she dies,
   All that is fitting:
Her poultry and her bees,
   And her goose sitting,
A pair of mattrass beds,
And a bag full of shreds;
And yet, for all this guedes,
   Phillada flouts me!

She hath a clout of mine
   Wrought with blue coventry,
Which she keeps for a sign
   Of my fidelity:
But i' faith, if she flinch
   She shall not wear it;
To Tib, my t'other wench,
   I mean to bear it.
And yet it grieves my heart
So soon from her to part:
Death strike me with his dart!
   Phillada flouts me.

Thou shalt eat crudded cream
   All the year lasting,
And drink the crystal stream
   Pleasant in tasting;
Whig and whey whilst thou lust,
   And bramble-berries,
Pie-lid and pastry-crust,
   Pears, plums, and cherries.
Thy raiment shall be thin,
Made of a weevil's skin--
Yet all 's not worth a pin!
   Phillada flouts me.

In the last month of May
   I made her posies;
I heard her often say
   That she loved roses.
Cowslips and gillyflowers
   And the white lily
I brought to deck the bowers
   For my sweet Philly.
But she did all disdain,
And threw them back again;
Therefore 'tis flat and plain
   Phillada flouts me.

Fair maiden, have a care,
   And in time take me;
I can have those as fair
   If you forsake me:
For Doll the dairy-maid
   Laugh'd at me lately,
And wanton Winifred
   Favours me greatly.
One throws milk on my clothes,
T'other plays with my nose;
What wanting signs are those?
   Phillada flouts me.

I cannot work nor sleep
   At all in season:
Love wounds my heart so deep
   Without all reason.
I 'gin to pine away
   In my love's shadow,
Like as a fat beast may,
   Penn'd in a meadow.
I shall be dead, I fear,
Within this thousand year:
And all for that my dear
   Phillada flouts me.