ELIZABETHAN LYRICS. GEORGE GASCOIGNE, The Adventures of Master Ferdinando Ieronimi, Posies, 1575. SONNET. THE stately dames of Rome their pearls did wear But she whom I do serve, her pearls doth bear GEORGE GASCOIGNE, Posies, THE STRANGE PASSION OF A LOVER. AMID my bale I bathe in bliss, I swim in heaven, I sink in hell; I find amends for every miss And yet my moan no tongue can tell. 5 IO I live and love, what would you more? I laugh sometimes with little lust, And yet mistrust breeds mine annoy. I live and lack, I lack and have, I have and miss the thing I crave. These things seem strange, yet are they true; Both slakes my grief and breeds my grutch. Then like the lark that passed the night In heavy sleep, with cares oppressed, Yet when she spies the pleasant light 20 And taketh pleasure in her pain Το wray the woe that makes her weep: So sing I now for to bewray The loathsome life I lead alway. The which to thee, dear wench, I write, That know'st my mirth, but not my moan. I pray God grant thee deep delight, I cannot live, it will not be, 15 ΙΟ 5 Such a one did I meet, good sir, Such an angel-like face, Who like a queen, like a nymph, did appear, By her gait, by her grace. She hath left me here all alone, All alone, as unknown, Who sometimes did me lead with herself, And me loved as her own. What's the cause that she leaves you alone, And a new way doth take, Who loved you once as her own, And her joy did you make? 10 15 20 5 |