Oh, what a pain is love! How shall I bear it? She will unconstant prove; I greatly fear it. She so torments my mind That my strength faileth, And wavers with the wind As a ship saileth. Please her the best I may, She loves still to gainsay: Alack and well-a-day! Phillada flouts me. All the fair yesterday She did pass by me; She looked another way And would not spy me. I woo’d her for to dine, But could not get her; Will had her to the wine-- He might intreat her. With Daniel she did dance; On me she looked askance: Oh, thrice unhappy chance! Phillada flouts me. [Illustration] [Illustration] Fair maid! be not so coy; Do not disdain me! I am my mother’s joy: Sweet! entertain me! She’ll give me when she dies All that is fitting: Her poultry and her bees, And her goose sitting, A pair of mattress beds, And a bag full of shreds: And yet, for all this guedes, Phillada flouts me. [Illustration] She hath a clout of mine, Wrought with blue coventry, Which she keeps for a sign Of my fidelity; But, ’faith, if she flinch, She shall not wear it; To Tib, my t’other wench, I mean to bear it. And yet it grieves my heart So soon from her to part: Death strike me with his dart! Phillada flouts me. [Illustration] Thou shalt eat crudded cream All the year lasting, And drink the crystal stream Pleasant in tasting, [Illustration] Whig and whey whilst thou lust, And ramble-berries, Pie-lid and pastry crust, Pears, plums, and cherries; Thy raiment shall be thin, Made of a weevil’s skin-- Yet all’s not worth a pin: Phillada flouts me. Fair maiden! have a care, And in time take me; I can have those as fair, If you forsake me: For Doll the dairy-maid Laughed at me lately, And wanton Winifred Favors me greatly. [Illustration] One throws milk on my clothes; T’other plays with my nose: What wanting signs are those! Phillada flouts me. I cannot work nor sleep At all in season, Love wounds my heart so deep, Without all reason. I ’gin to pine away In my love’s shadow, Like as a fat beast may Penned in a meadow. I shall be dead, I fear, Within this thousand year: And all for that my dear Phillada flouts me. [Illustration]