| T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22. | | | | “Weep No More” | | By Francis Beaumont (1584–1616) and John Fletcher (1579–1625) |
| | (Songs from The Queen of Corinth)
I.
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 hidden ends eyes cannot see. | |
| Joys as winged dreams fly fast, | |
| Why should sadness longer last? | |
| Grief is but a wound to woe; | |
| Gentlest fair, mourn, mourn no moe. | 10 |
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II. COURT-LADIES, laugh and wonder. Here is one | |
| That weeps because her maidenhead is gone; | |
| Whilst you do never fret, nor chafe, nor cry, | |
| But when too long it keeps you company. | |
| Too well you know, maids are like towns on fire, | 15 |
| Wasting themselves, if no man quench desire. | |
| Weep then no more, fool! A new maidenhead | |
| Thou suffer’st loss of, in each chaste tear shed. | | | | |
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