Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Anonymous. 160568. Devotion Captain Tobias Hume’s The First Part of Airs, &c.
FAIN would I change that note | |
To which fond Love hath charm’d me | |
Long, long to sing by rote, | |
Fancying that that harm’d me: | |
Yet when this thought doth come, | 5 |
‘Love is the perfect sum | |
Of all delight,’ | |
I have no other choice | |
Either for pen or voice | |
To sing or write. | 10 |
O Love! they wrong thee much | |
That say thy sweet is bitter, | |
When thy rich fruit is such | |
As nothing can be sweeter. | |
Fair house of joy and bliss, | 15 |
Where truest pleasure is, | |
I do adore thee: | |
I know thee what thou art, | |
I serve thee with my heart, | |
And fall before thee. | 20 |