John Ford (1586-c. 1640). Penthea's Dying Song. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1907. The Book of Elizabethan Verse

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

Penthea’s Dying Song

By John Ford (1586–c. 1640)


OH 1 no more, no more, too late
Sighs are spent; the burning tapers
Of a life as chaste as fate,
Pure as are unwritten papers,
Are burnt out; no heat, no light	5
Now remains; ’tis ever night.
Love is dead; let lovers’ eyes
Locked in endless dreams,
Th’ extremes of all extremes,
Ope no more, for now Love dies,	10
Now Love dies—implying
Love’s martyrs must be ever, ever dying.

Note 1. From The Broken Heart, 1633. [back]