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Home  »  The Book of Elizabethan Verse  »  Thomas Lodge (1558–1625)

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907.

Accurst Be Love

Thomas Lodge (1558–1625)

ACCURST be Love, and those that trust his trains!

He tastes the fruit whilst others toil,

He brings the lamp, we lend the oil,

He sows distress, we yield him soil,

He wageth war, we bide the foil.

Accurst be Love, and those that trust his trains!

He lays the trap, we seek the snare,

He threat’neth death, we speak him fair,

He coins deceits, we foster care,

He favoureth pride, we count it rare.

Accurst be Love, and those that trust his trains!

He seemeth blind, yet wounds with art,

He sows content, he pays with smart,

He swears relief, yet kills the heart,

He calls for truth, yet scorns desart.

Accurst be Love, and those that trust his trains!

Whose heaven is hell, whose perfect joys are pains.