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Home  »  The English Poets  »  Sephestia’s Song to Her Child

Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. I. Early Poetry: Chaucer to Donne

Robert Greene (1558–1592)

Sephestia’s Song to Her Child

WEEP not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;

When thou art old there’s grief enough for thee.

Mother’s wag, pretty boy,

Father’s sorrow, father’s joy;

When thy father first did see

Such a boy by him and me,

He was glad, I was woe,

Fortune changèd made him so,

When he left his pretty boy

Last his sorrow, first his joy.

Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee,

When thou art old there’s grief enough for thee.

Streaming tears that never stint,

Like pearl drops from a flint,

Fell by course from his eyes,

That one another’s place supplies;

Thus he grieved in every part,

Tears of blood fell from his heart,

When he left his pretty boy,

Father’s sorrow, father’s joy.

Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee,

When thou art old there’s grief enough for thee.

The wanton smiled, father wept,

Mother cried, baby leapt;

More he crowed, more we cried,

Nature could not sorrow hide;

He must go, he must kiss

Child and mother, baby bless,

For he left his pretty boy,

Father’s sorrow, father’s joy.

Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee,

When thou art old there’s grief enough for thee.