T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Weep No More
By Francis Beaumont (15841616) and John Fletcher (15791625)(Songs from The Queen of Corinth) I. WEEP no more, nor sigh nor groan, | |
Sorrow calls no time that’s gone; | |
Violets pluck’d, the sweetest rain | |
Makes not fresh nor grow again; | |
Trim thy locks, look cheerfully, | 5 |
Fate’s hidden ends eyes cannot see. | |
Joys as winged dreams fly fast, | |
Why should sadness longer last? | |
Grief is but a wound to woe; | |
Gentlest fair, mourn, mourn no moe. | 10 |
II. COURT-LADIES, laugh and wonder. Here is one | |
That weeps because her maidenhead is gone; | |
Whilst you do never fret, nor chafe, nor cry, | |
But when too long it keeps you company. | |
Too well you know, maids are like towns on fire, | 15 |
Wasting themselves, if no man quench desire. | |
Weep then no more, fool! A new maidenhead | |
Thou suffer’st loss of, in each chaste tear shed. | |