The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 288 pages of information about The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5.

The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 288 pages of information about The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5.

“I hate all men, and shun all womankinde;
The one, because as I they wretched are;
The other, for because I doo not finde
My love with them, that wont to be their starre. 
And life I hate, because it will not last; 425
And death I hate, because it life doth marre;
And all I hate that is to come or past.

“So all the world, and all in it I hate,
Because it changeth ever to and fro,
And never standeth in one certaine state, 430
But, still unstedfast, round about doth goe
Like a mill-wheele in midst of miserie,
Driven with streames of wretchednesse and woe,
That dying lives, and living still does dye.

“So doo I live, so doo I daylie die, 435
And pine away in selfe-consuming paine! 
Sith she that did my vitall powres supplie,
And feeble spirits in their force maintaine,
Is fetcht fro me, why seeke I to prolong
My wearie daies in dolour and disdalne! 440
Weepe, Shepheard! weepe, to make my undersong.

IV.

“Why doo I longer live in lifes despight,
And doo not dye then in despight of death! 
Why doo I longer see this loathsome light,
And doo in darknesse not abridge my breath, 445
Sith all my sorrow should have end thereby,
And cares finde quiet!  Is it so uneath*
To leave this life, or dolorous to dye?
  [* Uneath, difficult.]

“To live I finde it deadly dolorous,
For life drawes care, and care continuall woe; 450
Therefore to dye must needes be ioyeous,
And wishfull thing this sad life to forgoe. 
But I must stay; I may it not amend;
My Daphne hence departing bad me so;
She bad me stay, till she for me did send. 455

“Yet, whilest I in this wretched vale doo stay,
My wearie feete shall ever wandring be,
That still I may be readie on my way
When, as her messenger doth come for me;
Ne will I rest my feete for feeblenesse, 460
Ne will I rest my limmes for frailtie,
Ne will I rest mine eyes for heavinesse.

“But, as the mother of the gods, that sought
For faire Euridyce, her daughter dere,
Throughout the world, with wofull heavie thought,
So will I travell whilest I tarrie heere, 466
Ne will I lodge, ne will I ever lin*,
Ne, when as drouping Titan draweth nere
To loose his teeme, will I take up my inne**.
[* Lin, cease.]
[** Inne, lodging.]

“Ne sleepe, the harbenger* of wearie wights, 470
Shall ever lodge upon mine eye-lids more,
Ne shall with rest refresh my fainting sprights,
Nor failing force to former strength restore: 
But I will wake and sorrow all the night
With Philumene*, my fortune to deplore; 475
With Philumene, the partner of my plight.
  [* Harbenger, one who provides lodging or repose.]
  [** Philumene, Philomel.]

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Project Gutenberg
The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.