| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Bright Soul of the Sad Year | | By Thomas Nashe (1567–1601) |
| | | FAIR 1 summer droops, droop men and beasts therefore, | |
| So fair a summer look for never more: | |
| All good things vanish less than in a day, | |
| Peace, plenty, pleasure suddenly decay. | |
| Go not yet away, bright soul of the sad year, | 5 |
| The earth is hell when thou leav’st to appear. 2 | |
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| What, shall those flowers, that decked thy garland erst, | |
| Upon thy grave be wastefully dispersed? | |
| O trees, consume your sap in sorrow’s source, | |
| Streams, turn to tears your tributary course. | 10 |
| Go not yet hence, bright soul of the sad year, | |
| The earth is hell when thou leav’st to appear. | |
| | | Note 1. From Summer’s Last Will and Testament, 1600 (acted in the autumn of 1593, while the plague was raging). [back] | | Note 2. Leav’st to appear: ceased to appear. [back] | | |
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