Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. I. Early Poetry: Chaucer to Donne
William Shakespeare (15641616)Songs from Plays: Song of Autolycus (from The Winters Tale)
W
With heigh! the doxy over the dale,
Why, then comes in the sweet o’ the year;
For the red blood reigns in the winter’s pale.
With heigh! the sweet birds, O, how they sing!
Doth set my pugging tooth on edge;
For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.
With heigh! with heigh! the thrush and the jay,
Are, summer songs for me and my aunts,
While we lie tumbling in the hay.
The pale moon shines by night:
And when I wander here and there,
I then do most go right.
And bear the sow-skin budget,
Then my account I well may give,
And in the stocks avouch it.
And merrily hent the stile-a:
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a.