Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Sir John Suckling (1609–1642)

The Lute Song in The Sad One

HAST thou seen the down in the air,

When wanton blasts have tossed it?

Or the ship on the sea,

When ruder winds have crossed it?

Hast thou marked the crocodile’s weeping,

Or the fox’s sleeping?

Or hast viewed the peacock in his pride,

Or the dove by his bride,

When he courts for his lechery?

O, so fickle, O, so vain, O, so false, so false is she!