A Sweet Pastoral

Good Muse, rock me asleep         With some sweet harmony:     The weary eye is not to keep         Thy wary company.     Sweet Love, begone awhile,         Thou knowest my heaviness:     Beauty is born but to beguile         My heart of happiness.     See how my little flock,         That loved to feed on high,     Do headlong tumble down the rock,         And in the valley die.     The bushes and the trees         That were so fresh and green,     Do all their dainty colour leese,         And not a leaf is seen.     The blackbird and the thrush,         That made the woods to ring,     With all the rest, are now at hush,         And not a note they sing.     Sweet Philomel, the bird         That hath the heavenly throat,     Doth now alas! not once afford         Recording of a note.     The flowers have had a frost,         Each herb hath lost her savour;     And Phyllida the fair hath lost         The comfort of her favour.     Now all these careful sights         So kill me in conceit,     That how to hope upon delights         It is but mere deceit.     And therefore, my sweet Muse,         Thou know'st what help is best;     Do now thy heavenly cunning use         To set my heart at rest;     And in a dream bewray         What fate shall be my friend;     Whether my life shall still decay,         Or when my sorrow end.