Air,' quoth he, thy cheeks may blow;
Air, would I might triumph so!

But, alas! my hand hath sworn
Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn:
Vow, alack! for youth unmeet:
Youth, so apt to pluck a sweet.
Thou for whom Jove would swear
Juno but an Ethiope were ;
And deny himself for Jove,
Turning mortal for thy love.'

My flocks feed not,
My ewes breed not,

My rams speed not;
All is amiss:

Love's denying,
Faith's defying,

Heart's renying,

Causer of this.

[XVIII]

All my merry jigs are quite forgot,
All my lady's love is lost, God wot:
Where her faith was firmly fix'd in love,
There a nay is placed without remove.
One silly cross

Wrought all my loss;

O frowning Fortune, cursed, fickle dame! For now I see

Inconstancy

More in women than in men remain.

5

IO

15

In black mourn I,
All fears scorn I,
Love hath forlorn me,
Living in thrall:

Heart is bleeding,

All help needing,

O cruel speeding,

Fraughted with gall.

My shepherd's pipe can sound no deal :

My wether's bell rings doleful knell ;

20

25

My curtal dog, that wont to have play'd,

Plays not at all, but seems afraid;

30

My sighs so deep

Procure to weep,

In howling wise, to see my doleful plight.

How sighs resound

Through heartless ground,

35

Like a thousand vanquish❜d men in bloody fight!

All our love is lost, for Love is dead.

Farewell, sweet lass,

Thy like ne'er was

50

Poor Corydon

For a sweet content, the cause of all my moan:

Must live alone;

Other help for him I see that there is none.

XIX

When as thine eye hath chose the dame,
And stall'd the deer that thou shouldst strike,
Let reason rule things worthy blame,

As well as fancy, partial wight:

Take counsel of some wiser head,
Neither too young nor yet unwed.

And when thou comest thy tale to tell,
Smooth not thy tongue with filed talk,
Lest she some subtle practice smell,-
A cripple soon can find a halt ;—

But plainly say thou lovest her well,
And set thy person forth to sell.

What though her frowning brows be bent,
Her cloudy looks will calm ere night:
And then too late she will repent
That thus dissembled her delight;

And twice desire, ere it be day,
That which with scorn she put away.

5

IO

15