Bulchevy's Book of English Verse Part 12

Then Esperus, that is so bricht, Til woful hairtis castis his light, With bankis that bloomis on every brae; And schouris are shed forth of their sicht Through gladness of this l.u.s.ty May.

Birdis on bewis of every birth, Rejoicing notis makand their mirth Richt plesantly upon the spray, With flouris.h.i.+ngis o'er field and firth Through gladness of this l.u.s.ty May.

All luvaris that are in care To their ladies they do repair In fresh morningis before the day, And are in mirth ay mair and mair Through gladness of this l.u.s.ty May.

sheen] bright. til] into. schouris] showers. bewis]

boughs. birth] kind.

Anonymous. 16th Cent. (Scottish)

52. My Heart is High Above

MY heart is high above, my body is full of bliss, For I am set in luve as well as I would wiss I luve my lady pure and she luvis me again, I am her serviture, she is my soverane; She is my very heart, I am her howp and heill, She is my joy invart, I am her luvar leal; I am her bond and thrall, she is at my command; I am perpetual her man, both foot and hand; The thing that may her please my body sall fulfil; Quhatever her disease, it does my body ill.

My bird, my bonny ane, my tender babe venust, My luve, my life alane, my liking and my l.u.s.t!

We interchange our hairtis in others armis soft, Spriteless we twa depairtis, usand our luvis oft.

We mourn when licht day dawis, we plain the nicht is short, We curse the c.o.c.k that crawis, that hinderis our disport.

I glowffin up aghast, quhen I her miss on nicht, And in my oxter fast I find the bowster richt; Then languor on me lies like Morpheus the mair, Quhilk causes me uprise and to my sweet repair.

And then is all the sorrow forth of remembrance That ever I had a-forrow in luvis observance.

Thus never I do rest, so l.u.s.ty a life I lead, Quhen that I list to test the well of womanheid.

Luvaris in pain, I pray G.o.d send you sic remeid As I have nicht and day, you to defend from deid!

Therefore be ever true unto your ladies free, And they will on you rue as mine has done on me.

wiss] wish. heill] health. invart] inward. venust]

delightful. glowffin] blink on awaking. oxter] armpit. a-forrow]

aforetime.

Numbers from Elizabethan Miscellanies & Song-books by Unnamed or Uncertain Authors. 1557

53. A Praise of His Lady Tottel's Miscellany ? by John Heywood

GIVE place, you ladies, and begone!

Boast not yourselves at all!

For here at hand approacheth one Whose face will stain you all.

The virtue of her lively looks Excels the precious stone; I wish to have none other books To read or look upon.

In each of her two crystal eyes Smileth a naked boy; It would you all in heart suffice To see that lamp of joy.

I think Nature hath lost the mould Where she her shape did take; Or else I doubt if Nature could So fair a creature make.

She may be well compared Unto the Phoenix kind, Whose like was never seen or heard, That any man can find.

In life she is Diana chaste, In troth Penelopey; In word and eke in deed steadfast.

--What will you more we say?

If all the world were sought so far, Who could find such a wight?

Her beauty twinkleth like a star Within the frosty night.

Her rosial colour comes and goes With such a comely grace, More ruddier, too, than doth the rose, Within her lively face.

At Bacchus' feast none shall her meet, Ne at no wanton play, Nor gazing in an open street, Nor gadding as a stray.

The modest mirth that she doth use Is mix'd with shamefastness; All vice she doth wholly refuse, And hateth idleness.

O Lord! it is a world to see How virtue can repair, And deck in her such honesty, Whom Nature made so fair.

Truly she doth so far exceed Our women nowadays, As doth the jeliflower a weed; And more a thousand ways.

How might I do to get a graff Of this unspotted tree?

--For all the rest are plain but chaff, Which seem good corn to be.

This gift alone I shall her give; When death doth what he can, Her honest fame shall ever live Within the mouth of man.

Numbers from Elizabethan Miscellanies & Song-books by Unnamed or Uncertain Authors. 1557

54. To Her Sea-faring Lover Tottel's Miscellany ? by John Heywood

SHALL I thus ever long, and be no whit the neare?

And shall I still complain to thee, the which me will not hear?

Alas! say nay! say nay! and be no more so dumb, But open thou thy manly mouth and say that thou wilt come: Whereby my heart may think, although I see not thee, That thou wilt come--thy word so sware--if thou a live man be.

The roaring hugy waves they threaten my poor ghost, And toss thee up and down the seas in danger to be lost.

Shall they not make me fear that they have swallowed thee?

--But as thou art most sure alive, so wilt thou come to me.

Whereby I shall go see thy s.h.i.+p ride on the strand, And think and say Lo where he comes and Sure here will he land: And then I shall lift up to thee my little hand, And thou shalt think thine heart in ease, in health to see me stand.

And if thou come indeed (as Christ thee send to do!) Those arms which miss thee now shall then embrace [and hold] thee too:

Each vein to every joint the lively blood shall spread Which now for want of thy glad sight doth show full pale and dead.

But if thou slip thy troth, and do not come at all, As minutes in the clock do strike so call for death I shall: To please both thy false heart and rid myself from woe, That rather had to die in troth than live forsaken so!

neare] nearer.

Numbers from Elizabethan Miscellanies & Song-books by Unnamed or Uncertain Authors. 1589

55. The Faithless Shepherdess William Byrd's Songs of Sundry Natures

WHILE that the sun with his beams hot Scorched the fruits in vale and mountain, Philon the shepherd, late forgot, Sitting beside a crystal fountain In shadow of a green oak tree, Upon his pipe this song play'd he: Adieu, Love, adieu, Love, untrue Love!

Untrue Love, untrue Love, adieu, Love!

Your mind is light, soon lost for new love.

So long as I was in your sight I was your heart, your soul, your treasure; And evermore you sobb'd and sigh'd Burning in flames beyond all measure: --Three days endured your love to me, And it was lost in other three!

Adieu, Love, adieu, Love, untrue Love!

Untrue Love, untrue Love, adieu, Love!

Your mind is light, soon lost for new love.