Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
III. Adversity“Hence, all ye vain delights”
John Fletcher (1579–1625)From “The Nice Valour,” Act III. Sc. 3.
H
As short as are the nights
Wherein you spend your folly!
There ’s naught in this life sweet,
If man were wise to see ’t
But only melancholy,
O, sweetest melancholy!
A sigh that piercing mortifies,
A look that ’s fastened to the ground,
A tongue chained up without a sound!
Places which pale passion loves!
Moonlight walks, when all the fowls
Are warmly housed save bats and owls!
A midnight bell, a parting groan!
These are the sounds we feed upon;
Then stretch our bones in a still gloomy valley:
Nothing ’s so dainty sweet as lovely melancholy.