by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Oft have I mused the cause to find
Language: English
Oft have I mused the cause to find Why Love in lady’s eyes should dwell; I thought, because himself was blind, He look’d that they should guide him well: And sure his hope but seldom fails, For Love by ladies’ eyes prevails. But time at last hath taught me wit, Although I bought my wit full dear; For by her eyes my heart is hit, Deep is the wound though none appear: Their glancing beams as darts he throws, And sure he hath no shafts but those. I mused to see their eyes so bright, And little thought they had been fire; I gazed upon them with delight, But that delight hath bred desire: What better place can Love desire Than that where grow both shafts and fire?
Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age, ed. by A. H. Bullen, London, John C. Nimmo, 1887, page 93.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
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), "Oft have I mused the cause to find", published 1608, from the collection Ultimum Vale, or the Third Booke of Ayres [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2014-02-25
Line count: 18
Word count: 128