| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Damelus’ Song of His Diaphenia | | By Henry Constable (1562–1613) |
| | | DIAPHENIA 1 like the daffadowndilly, | |
| White as the sun, fair as the lily, | |
| Heigh ho, how I do love thee! | |
| I do love thee as my lambs | |
| Are belovèd of their dams— | 5 |
| How blest were I if thou wouldst prove me! | |
| |
| Diaphenia like the spreading roses, | |
| That in thy sweets all sweets encloses, | |
| Fair sweet, how I do love thee! | |
| I do love thee as each flower | 10 |
| Love’s the sun’s life-giving power, | |
| For death, thy breath to life might move me. | |
| |
| Diaphenia, like to all things blessèd | |
| When all thy praises are expressèd, | |
| Dear joy, how I do love thee! | 15 |
| As the birds do love the spring, | |
| Or the bees their careful king: | |
| Then in requite, sweet virgin, love me! | |
| | | Note 1. Printed in England’s Helicon, 1600; and set to music in Francis Pilkington’s First Book of Songs and Airs, 1605. [back] | | |
|
|
|
