Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
John Ford (1586c. 1640)Pentheas Dying Song (from The Broken Heart)
O
Sighs are spent; the burning tapers
Of a life as chaste as fate,
Pure as are unwritten papers,
Are burnt out; no heat, no light
Now remains; ’tis ever night.
Love is dead; let lovers’ eyes,
Locked in endless dreams,
Th’ extremes of all extremes,
Ope no more, for now Love dies.
Now Love dies—implying
Love’s martyrs must be ever, ever dying.