A Little Love Music

Hide, Absalom, thy guilty tresses clear;
Esther, lay thou thy meekness all a-down;
Hide Jonathas, all thy friendly manère;
Penelope, and Marcia Catoun.
Make of your wifehood no comparisoun;
Hide ye your beauties, Isoud and Elaine.
My lady cometh, that all this may distain.

The faire body, let it not appear, Lavyn;
and thou, Lucress of Rome town,
And Polixene, that broughten love so dear;
And Cleopatr will all thy passion,
Hide ye your truth of love and your renown;
And thou, Tisbe, that hast of love such pain.
My lady cometh, that all this may distain.

Hero, Dido, Laodomia, all y-frere,
And Phyllis, hanging for thy Demophoun,
And Canace, espiéd by thy chere,
Ysyphile, betrayséd with Jasoun,
Make of your truthé neither boast ne soun;
Nor Hypermestr or Adriane, ye twain.
My lady cometh, that all this may distain.

The maidens came when I was in my mother's bow'r;
I had all that I would.
The bailey beareth the bell away;
The lily, the rose, the rose I lay.

The silver is white, red is the gold;
The robes they lay in fold.
The bailey beareth the bell away;
The lily, the rose, the rose I lay.

And through the glass window shines the sun.
How should I love, and I so young?
The bailey beareth the bell away;
The lily, the rose, the rose I lay.

Merry Margaret
  As midsummer flower,
  Gentle as falcon
  Or hawk of the tower:
With solace and gladness,
Much mirth and no madness,
All good and no badness;
    So joyously,
    So maidenly,
    So womanly
    Her demeaning
    In every thing,
    Far, far passing
    That I can indite,
    Or suffice to write
  Of Merry Margaret
  As midsummer flower,
  Gentle as falcon
  Or hawk of the tower.
  As patient and still
  And as full of good will
  As fair Isaphill,
  Coliander,
  Sweet pomander,
  Good Cassander;
  Steadfast of thought,
  Well made, well wrought,
  Far may be sought,
  Ere that ye can find
  So courteous, so kind
  As merry Margaret,
  This midsummer flower,
  Gentle as falcon
  Or hawk of the tower.

With margerain gentle,
  The flower of goodlihead,
Embroidered the mantle
  Is of your maidenhead.
Plainly I cannot glose;
  Ye be, as I divine,
The pretty primrose,
  The goodly columbine.
 
Benign, courteous, and meek,
  With wordes well devised;
In you, who list to seek,
  Be virtues well comprised.
With margerain gentle,
  The flower of goodlihead,
Embroidered the mantle
  Is of your maidenhead.

Sweet, let me go! Sweet, let me go!
What do you mean to vex me so?
Cease, cease, cease your pleading force.
Do you think thus to extort remorse?
Now no more; alas, you overbear me;
And I would cry but some, I fear, might hear me.

I love and I hate
How can this be, you ask?
I cannot tell:
But I am on the rack and in agony.

And wilt thou leave me thus!
Say nay, say nay, for shame!
-- To save thee from the blame
Of all my grief and grame.
And wilt thou leave me thus?
    Say nay! say nay!

And wilt thou leave me thus,
That hath loved thee so long
In wealth and woe among:
And is thy heart so strong
As for to leave me thus?
    Say nay! say nay!

And wilt thou leave me thus,
That hath given thee my heart
Never for to depart
Neither for pain nor smart:
And wilt thou leave me thus?
    Say nay! say nay!

 ... 

This is the key of the Kingdom:
In that Kingdom is a city.
In that city is a town.
In that town there is a street.
In that street there winds a lane.
In that lane there is a yard.
In that yard there is a house.
In that house there waits a room.
In that room there is a bed.
On that bed there is a basket, a basket of flow'rs.
Flow'rs in the basket,
Basket on the bed.
Bed in the chamber,
Chamber in the house.
House in the weedy yard.
Yard in the winding lane.
Lane in the broad street.
Street in the high town.
Town in the city.
City in the kingdom:
This is the key of the Kingdom.