| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Madrigal | | By Francis Davison (1575?–1619?) |
| | To Cupid
LOVE, 1 if a god thou art, | |
| Then evermore thou must | |
| Be merciful and just. | |
| If thou be just, O wherefore doth thy dart | |
| Wound mine alone, and not my Lady’s heart? | 5 |
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| If merciful, then why | |
| Am I to pain reserved, | |
| Who have thee truly served; | |
| While she, that by thy power sets not a fly, | |
| Laughs thee to scorn and lives in liberty? | 10 |
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| Then, if a god thou wouldst accounted be, | |
| Heal me like her, or else wound her like me. | |
| | Note 1. Mr. Bullen says this is a translation from the Italian of Groto:| | Amor, se pur sei Dio, |
| Dei esser giusto parimente e pio: |
| Se giusto, perche sol contra me scocchi, |
| E madonna non tocchi? |
| Se pio, perche perdoni |
| A lei, e a mi ti opponi? |
| Horsù se nome vuoi fra i veri Dei, |
| Lei meco impiaga, o me sana con lei.” |
| (Bullen’s ed. of the Rhapsody, vol. ii., 185.) |
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