Edmund Spenser - The Shepheardes Calendar XI: November lyrics

THENOT. COLIN. Colin, my Dear, when shall it please thee sing, As thou wert wont, Songs of some Jouisance Thy Muse too long slumbereth in sorrowing, Lulled asleep through Love's misgovernance. Now somewhat sing, whose endless Sovenance Emong the Shepherds Swains may aye remain; Whether thee list thy loved La** advance, Or honour Pan with Hymns of higher Vein. COLIN. Thenot, now nis the time of Merry-make, Nor Pan to herie, nor with Love to play; Sike Mirth in May is meetest for to make, Or Summer Shade, under the co*ked Hay. But now sad Winter welked hath the Day, And Phoebus weary of his yearly Task, Ystablisht hath his Steeds in lowly lay, And taken up his Inn in Fishes Hask, Thilk sullen Season sadder Plight doth ask, And loatheth sike Delights, as thou doost praise: The mournful Muse in Mirth now list ne mask, As she was wont in Youngth and Summer-days. But if thou algate lust light Virelays, And looser Songs of Love to underfong Who but thy self deserves sike Poet's Praise? Relieve thy Oaten Pipes, that sleepen long. THENOT. The Nightingale is Sovereign of Song, Before him fits the Titmouse silent be: And I, unfit to thrust in skilful Throng, Should Colin make judge of my foolery? Nay, better learn of hem that learned be, And han been watred at the Muses Well: The kindly Dew drops from the higher Tree, And wets the little Plants that lowly dwell. But if sad Winter's Wrath, and Season chill, Accord not with thy Muse's Merriment; To sadder times thou maist attune thy Quill, And sing of Sorrow and d**h's Dreriment, For dead is Dido, dead alas and drent! Dido, the great Shepherd his Daughter sheen: The fairest May she was that ever went, Her like she has not left behind I ween. And if thou wilt bewail my woeful Teen, I shall thee give yond Cosset for thy pain: And if thy Rimes as round and rueful been, As those that did thy Rosalind complain, Much greater Gifts for Guerdon thou shalt gain, Than Kid or Cosset, which I thee benempt; Then up I say, thou jolly Shepherd Swain, Let not my small Demand be so contempt. COLIN. Thenot, to that I chose, thou dost me tempt, But ah! too well I wote my humble vein, And how my Rimes been rugged and unkempt: Yet as I con, my Cunning I will strain. Up then Melpomene, the mournfulst Muse of nine, Such cause of mourning never hadst afore; Up grisly Ghosts, and up my ruful Rime, Matter of Mirth now shalt thou have no more: For dead she is, that Mirth thee made of yore, Dido my Dear, alas, is dead, Dead, and lieth wrapt in Lead: O heavy Herse! Let streaming Tears be poured out in store: O careful Verse! Shepherds, that by your Flocks on Kentish Downs abide, Wail ye this woful Waste of Nature's Wark: Wail we the Wight, whose Presence was our Pride; Wail we the Wight, whose Absence is our Cark. The Sun of all the World is dim and dark; The Earth now wants her wonted light, And all we dwell in deadly Night; O heavy Herse! Break we our Pipes, that shrill'd as loud as Lark: O careful Verse! Why do we longer live, (ah why live we so long?) Whose better Days d**h hath shut up in Woe? The fairest Flower our Girlond all among, Is faded quite, and into Dust ygo; Sing now ye Shepherd's Daughters, sing no mo The Songs that Colin made you in her praise, But into Weeping turn your wanton Lays. O heavy Herse! Now is time to die: Nay, time was long ygo. O careful Verse! Whence is it, that the Flowret of the Field doth fade, And lieth buried long in Winter's Bale? Yet soon as Spring his Mantle hath displayde, It flowreth fresh, as it should never fail. But thing on Earth that is of most avail, As Vertue's Branch and Beauty's Bud, Reliven not for any good. O heavy Herse! The Branch once dead, the Bud eke needs must quail: O careful Verse! She while she was, (that was a woful Word to sain) For Beauty's Praise and Pleasance had no Peer: So well she couth the Shepherds entertain With Cakes and Cracknels, and such Country Cheer. Ne would she scorn the simple Shepherd's Swain; For she would call him often heam, And give him Curds and clouted Cream. O heavy Herse! Als Colin Clout she would not once disdain: O careful Verse! But now sike happy Cheer is turn'd to heavy Chaunce, Such Pleasance now displac'd by Dolor's dint: All Musick sleeps, where d**h doth lead the Daunce, And Shepherds wonted Solace is extinct. The blue in black, the green in gray is tinct: The gaudy Girlonds deck her Grave, The faded Flowers her Corse embrave. O heavy Herse! Mourn now my Muse, now mourn with Tears besprint: O careful Verse! O thou great Shepherd Lobbin, how great is thy Grief, Where bin the Nosegays that she dight for thee? The coloured Chaplets wrought with a chief, The knotted Rush-rings, and gilt Rosemaree? For she deemed nothing too dear for thee. Ah, they been all yclad in Clay, One bitter Blast blew all away. O heavy Herse! Thereof nought remains but the Memoree: O careful Verse! Ay me that dreery d**h should strike so mortal Stroke, That can undo Dame Nature's kindly Course: The faded Locks fall from the lofty Oke, The Flouds do gasp, for dried is their Source, And Flouds of Tears flow in their stead perforce. The mantled Meadows mourn, Their sundry Colours tourn: O heavy Herse! The Heavens do melt in Tears without remorse: O careful Verse! The feeble Flocks in Field refuse their former Food, And hang their Heads, as they would learn to weep: The Beasts in Forest wail as they were wood, Except the Wolves, that chase the wandring Sheep, Now she is gone, that safely did hem keep. The Turtle on the bared Branch, Laments the Wound, that d**h did lanch. O heavy Herse! And Philomel her Song with Tears doth steep: O careful Verse! The Water Nymphs, that wont with her to sing and dance, And for her Girlond Olive Branches bear, Now baleful Boughs of Cypress done advance: The Muses that were wont green Bays to wear, How bringen bitter Elder Branches sere: The fatal Sisters eke repent, Her vital Threed so soon was spent. O heavy Herse! Mourn now my Muse, now mourn with heavy Chear: O careful Verse! O trustless State of earthly things, and slipper Hope Of mortal Men, that swink and sweat for nought, And shooting wide, do miss the marked Scope: Now have I learn'd (a Lesson dearly bought) That nis on Earth a**urance to be sought: For what might be in earthly Mould; That did her buried Body hold; O heavy Herse! Yet saw I on the Beere when it was brought: O careful Verse! But maugre d**h, and dreaded Sisters deadly spight: And Gates of Hell, and fiery Furies force; She hath the Bonds broke of eternal Night, Her Soul unbodied of the burdenous Corse. Why then weeps Lobbin so without remorse? O Lobb, thy Loss no longer lament; Dido nis dead, but into Heaven hent: O happy Herse! Cease now my Muse, now cease thy Sorrow's sourse, O joyful Verse! Why wail we then? why weary we the Gods with Plaints, As if some Evil were to her betight? She reigns a Goddess now emong the Saints, That whylom was the Saint of Shepherds light; And is enstalled now in Heavens hight. I see the blessed soul, I see, Walk in Elysian Fields so free. O happy Herse! Might I once come to thee (O that I might!) O joyful Verse! Unwise and wretched Men to weet what's Good or Ill, We deem of d**h as doom of ill Desert: But knew we, Fools, what it us brings until, Die would we daily, once it to expert: No Danger there the Shepherd can a**ert; Fair Fields and pleasant Layes there been; The Fields aye fresh, the Gra** aye green: O happy Herse! Cease now my Song, my Woe now wasted is, O joyful Verse! Dido is gone afore (whose turn shall be the next?) There lives she with the blessed Gods in Bliss; There drinks she Nectar with Ambrosia mixt, And Joys enjoys, that mortal Men do miss. The Honour now of highest Gods she is, That whylom was poor Shepherds Pride, While here on Earth she did abide: O happy Herse! Cease now my Song, my Woe now wasted is: O joyful Verse! THENOT. Aye frank Shepherd, how been thy Verses meint With doleful Pleasance, so as I ne wot, Whether rejoyce or weep for great constraint? Thine be the Cosset, well hast thou it got. Up Colin up, ynough thou mourned hast: Now 'gins to mizzle, hie we homeward fast. COLIN'S EMBLEM. La mort ny mord.