Come live with me and be my love
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys groves hills and fields
Woods or steepy mountain yields
And we will sit upon rocks
And see the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals
And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant poises
A cap of flowers and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle
A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull
Fair lined slippers for the cold
With buckles of the purest gold
A belt of straw and ivy buds
With coral clasps and amber studs
And if these pleasures may thee move
Come live with me and be my love
The shepherds's swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning
If these delights thy mind may move
Then live with me and be my love
If all the world and love were young
And truth in every shepherd's tongue
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love
But time drives the flocks from field to fold
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold
When Philomel becometh dumb
The rest complains of cares to come
The flowers do fade and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields
A honey tongue a heart of gall
Is fancy's spring but sorrow's fall
Thy gowns thy shoes thy beds of roses
Thy cap thy kirtle and thy posies
Soon break soon wither soon forgotten
In folly ripe in reason rotten
Thy belt of straw and ivy buds
Thy coral claps and somber studs
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love
But could youth last and love still breed
Had joys no date nor age no need
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy love
