Welcome Joy and Welcome Sorrow - IV. O Sorrow

"O sorrow,

Why dost borrow

The natural hue of health, from vermeil lips? –

To give maiden blushes

To the white rose bushes?

Or is’t thy dewy hand the daisy tips?

O Sorrow,

Why dost borrow

The lustrous passion from a falcon-eye? –

To give the glow-worm light?

Or, on a moonless night,

To tinge, on syren shores, the salt sea-spray?

O Sorrow,

Why dost borrow

The mellow ditties from a mourning tongue? –

To give at ev’ning pale

Unto the nightingale,

That thou mayst listen the cold dews among?

O Sorrow,

Why dost borrow

Heart’s lightness from the merriment of May? –

A lover would not tread

A cowslip on the head,

Though he should dance from eve till peep

of day."