A Handful of Pleasant Delights/The complaint of a woman Louer
The complaint of a woman Louer,
To the tune of. Raging loue.
Hough wisdom wold I shold refrain,
My heaped cares here to vnfold:
Good Ladies yet my inward paine,
So pricketh me I haue no holde:
But that I must my griefe bewray,
Bedewed in teares with doleful tunes,
That you may heare, and after say,
Loe, this is she whom loue consumes.
¶My grief doth grow by my desire.
To fancie him that stormes my woe:
He naught regards my flaming fire,
Alas why doth he serue me so?
Whose fained teares I did beleeue,
And wept to heare his wailing voice,
But now, alas, too soon I preeue
Al men are false, there is no choice.
¶Had euer woman such reward,
At anie time for her goodwill?
Had euer woman hap so hard,
So cruelly for loue to spill?
What paps (alas) did giue him food,
That thus vnkindly workes my wo?
What beast is of so cruell moode,
to hate the hart that loues him so?
¶Like as the simple Turtle true,
In mourning groanes I spend the day:
My daily cares night dooth renew,
To thinke how he did me betray:
And when my weary limmes wold rest,
My sleepe vnsound hath dreadfull dreams,
Thus greeuous greefes my hart doth wrest
That stil mine eies run down like streams:
¶And yet, full oft it dooth me good,
To haunt the place where he hath beene,
To kisse the ground whereon he stoode,
When he (alas) my loue did win.
To kisse the Bed wheron we laye?
Now may I thinke vnto my paine,
O blisfull place full oft I say:
Render to me my loue againe,
¶But all is lost that may not be,
Another dooth possesse my right:
His cruell hart, disdaineth me,
New loue hath put the olde, to flight:
He loues to see my watered eyes,
and laughes to see how I do pine:
No words can well my woes comprise,
alas what griefe is like to mine?
¶You comly Dam[e]s, beware by me,
To rue sweete words of fickle trust:
For I may well example be,
How filed talke oft prooues vniust
But sith deceipt haps to my pay,
Good Ladyes helpe my dolefull tunes,
That you may here and after say:
Loe this is she whom loue consumes.