Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SHEPHERD'S DESCRIPTION OF LOVE, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SHEPHERD'S DESCRIPTION OF LOVE, by                    
First Line: "shepherd, what's love, I pray thee tell"
Last Line: And shepherd this is love I trow
Subject(s): Love - Nature Of


Meliboeus: Shepherd, what's love, I pray thee tell?

Faustus: It is that fountain and that well,
Where pleasure and repentance dwell;
It is perhaps that sauncing bell,
That tolls all in to heaven or hell:
And this is love as I heard tell.

Meliboeus: Yet what is love, I prithee say?

Faustus: It is a work on holiday,
It is December match'd with May,
When lusty bloods in fresh array
Hear ten months after of the play:
And this is love, as I hear say.

Meliboeus: Yet what is Love, good shepherd, sain?

Faustus: It is a sunshine mix'd with rain,
It is a tooth-ache, or like pain,
It is a game, where none doth gain;
The lass saith no, and would full fain:
And this is Love, as I hear sain.

Meliboeus: Yet, shepherd, what is Love, I pray?

Faustus: It is a yea, it is a nay,
A pretty kind of sporting fray,
It is a thing will soon away,
Then, nymphs, take vantage while ye may:
And this is Love, as I hear say.

Meliboeus: Yet what is love, good shepherd, show?

Faustus: A thing that creeps, it cannot go,
A prize that passeth to and fro,
A thing for one, a thing for moe,
And he that proves shall find it so:
And, shepherd, this is love, I trow.
[Authorship uncertain]





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