Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MILKMAIDS EPITHALAMIUM, by THOMAS RANDOLPH


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THE MILKMAIDS EPITHALAMIUM, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Joy to the bridegroom and the bride
Last Line: To get a man to pity me.
Subject(s): Country Life; Wedding Song; Epithalamium


JOY to the bridegroom and the bride,
That lie by one another's side!
O, fie upon the virgin-beds,
No loss is gain but maidenheads.
Love, quickly send the time may be,
When I shall deal my rosemary!

I long to simper at a feast,
To dance and kiss, and do the rest.
When I shall wed, and bedded be,
O, then the qualm comes over me,
And tells the sweetness of a theme
That I ne'er knew but in a dream.

You ladies have the blessed nights,
I pine in hope of such delights:
And (silly damsel) only can
Milk the cow's teats, and think on man,
And sigh and wish to taste and prove
The wholesome sillibub of love.

Make haste at once: twin-brothers bear;
And leave new matter for a star.
Women and ships are never shown
So fair, as when their sails are blown.
Then when the midwife hears your moan,
I'll sigh for grief that I have none.

And you, dear knight, whose every kiss
Reaps the full crop of Cupid's bliss,
Now you have found, confess and tell
That single sheets do make up hell.
And then so charitable he
To get a man to pity me.





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