| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Song: ‘Virtue’s branches wither, Virtue pines’ | | By Thomas Dekker (c. 1570–1632) |
| | | VIRTUE’S branches wither, Virtue pines, | |
| O pity, pity, and alack the time; | |
| Vice doth flourish, Vice in glory shines, | |
| Her gilded boughs above the cedar climb. | |
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| Vice hath golden cheeks, O pity, pity, | 5 |
| She in every land doth monarchize; | |
| Virtue is exiled from every city, | |
| Virtue is a fool, Vice only wise. | |
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| O pity, pity, Virtue weeping dies, | |
| Vice laughs to see her faint, alack the time. | 10 |
| This sinks, with painted wings the other flies: | |
| Alack that best should fall, and bad should climb. | |
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| O pity, pity, pity, mourn, not sing, | |
| Vice doth flourish, Vice in glory shines, | |
| Vice is a saint, Virtue an underling; | 15 |
| Virtue’s branches wither, Virtue pines. | | | | |
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