Skip to main content

Damon and Cupid

The sun was now withdrawn,
The shepherds home were sped;
The moon wide o'er the lawn
Her silver mantle spread;
When Damon stay'd behind,
And saunter'd in the grove:
" Will ne'er a nymph be kind,
And give me love for love?

" Oh! those were golden hours,
When Love, devoid of cares,
In all Arcadia's bowers
Lodg'd swains and nymphs by pairs!
But now from wood and plain
Flies ev'ry sprightly lass:
No joys for me remain,
In shades, or on the grass. "

The winged boy draws near,
And thus the swain reproves:

The False Lover

The sun shines high on yonder hill,
And low on yonder den;
And the place where my bonnie lovie does dwell,
The sun goes never doon, bonnie lovie,
The sun goes never doon.

Saddle me the black, the black,
And saddle me the broon,
That I may ride a' roon, bonnie lovie,
That I may ride a' roon.

When will ye come back, bonnie lovie,
And when will ye be hame?
When the heather hills are nine times brunt
And a' grown green again, bonnie lovie,
And a' grown green again.

That 's owre lang awa', bonnie lovie,

Such wayward ways hath love, that most part in discord

Such wayward ways hath Love, that most part in discord
Our wills do stand, whereby our hearts but seldom do accord.
Deceit is his delight, and to beguile and mock
The simple hearts, which he doth strike with froward diverse stroke.
He causeth the one to rage with golden burning dart,
And doth allay with leaden cold again the other's heart.
Hot gleams of burning fire, and easy sparks of flame,
In balance of unequal weight he pondereth by aim.
From easy ford, where I might wade, and pass full well,
He me withdraws, and doth me drive into a deep dark hell;

He Wrote

Darling Heart if you would make me
Happy, you have found the way.
Write me letters. How they shake me
Thrill me all the common day.

With our love. I hear your laughter
Little laughs! I see your look
" They Lived Happy Ever After"
As you close the faery book.

Work's been nothing but a pleasure
Every silly little word
Dancing to some elfin measure
Piped by a small chuckling bird.

All this love — as though I've tasted
Wine too rare for human food —
I have dreamed away and wasted
Just because the news was good.

Rondel

Strengthen, my Love, this castle of my heart,
And with some store of pleasure give me aid,
For jealousy, with all them of his part,
Strong siege about the weary tower has laid.
Nay, if to break his bands thou art afraid,
Too weak to make his cruel force depart,
Strengthen at least this castle of my heart,
And with some store of pleasure give me aid.
Nay, let not jealousy, for all his art
Be master, and the tower in ruin laid,
That still, ah, Love, thy gracious rule obeyed.
Advance, and give me succor of thy part;

Lesbia Sewing

Stitches over and over
So the heart won't break,
Thrust the needle under
For sorrow's sake.

Stitches over and over
Till the pattern's set,
Thrust the needle under
So the heart forget.

Stitches over and over,
Needle hurry fast,
Till the love of beauty
Fall from me at last.

The Spring of Joy Is Dry

The spring of joy is dry
That ran into my heart;
And all my comforts fly:
My Love and I must part.
Farewell, my Love, I go,
If fate will have it so.
Yet to content us both
Return again, as doth
The shadow to the hour,
The bee unto the flower,
The fish unto the hook,
The cattle to the brook,
That we may sport our fill,
And love continue still.

Song of Seyd Nimetollah of Kuhistan

[Among the religious customs of the dervishes is an astronomical dance, in which the dervish imitates the movements of the heavenly bodies, by spinning on his own axis, whilst at the same time he revolves round the Sheikh in the centre, representing the sun; and, as he spins, he sings the Song of Seid Nimetollah of Kuhistan .]
Spin the ball! I reel, I burn,
Nor head from foot can I discern,
Nor my heart from love of mine,
Nor the wine-cup from the wine.
All my doing, all my leaving,
Reaches not to my perceiving;
Lost in whirling spheres I rove,

Yet love's severest laws

Yet love's severest lawes
Allowe his subjects this redresse,
By some inversion to expresse
What Saint is of their suffrings cause;
Thy name still binds my soule though I
The mystick letters do unty.
As Jewe's the sacred Name
With a religious feare conceale,
Yet dare the letters steale,
Transposed some new sence to frame;
So though from whence I dare not tell,
Care in my breast must ever dwell.