John Fletcher (1579-1625). Idle Tears. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1907. The Book of Elizabethan Verse

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907.

Idle Tears

By John Fletcher (1579–1625)


From “Queen of Corinth” WEEP no more, nor sigh, nor groan,
Sorrow calls no time that’s gone:
Violets pluck’d, the sweetest rain
Makes not fresh nor grow again.
Trim thy locks, look cheerfully;	5
Fate’s hid ends eyes cannot see;
Joys as wingèd dreams fly fast,
Why should sadness longer last?
Grief is but a wound to woe;
Gentlest fair, mourn, mourn no moe.	10