by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
She whose matchless beauty
Language: English
She whose matchless beauty staineth What best judgment fair’st maintaineth, She, O she, my love disdaineth. Can a creature, so excelling, Harbour scorn in beauty’s dwelling, All kind pity thence expelling? Pity beauty much commendeth And th’ embracer oft befriendeth When all eye-contentment endeth. Time proves beauty transitory; Scorn, the stain of beauty’s glory, In time makes the scorner sorry. None adores the sun declining; Love all love falls to resigning When the sun of love leaves shining. So, when flower of beauty fails thee, And age, stealing on, assails thee, Then mark what this scorn avails thee. Then those hearts, which now complaining Feel the wounds of thy disdaining, Shall contemn thy beauty waning. Yea, thine own heart, now dear-prizèd, Shall with spite and grief surprisèd Burst to find itself despisèd. When like harms have them requited Who in others’ harms delighted, Pleasingly the wrong’d are righted. Such revenge my wrongs attending, Hope still lives on time depending, By thy plagues thy torrents ending.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Robert Jones (fl. 1597-1615), "She whose matchless beauty", published 1601, from the collection First Book of Airs, no. 3. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2014-02-23
Line count: 30
Word count: 165