SWEET Lucinda, lend me thy aid, | |
| Thou art my helper and no other; | |
| Pity the state of a teeming maid, | |
| That never was a wife, yet must be a mother: | |
| By my presage, it should be a boy | 5 |
| That thus lies tumbling in my belly; | |
| Yield me some ease, to cure my annoy, | |
| And list to the grief I now shall tell ye. | |
| |
| I was belovèd everywhere, | |
| And much admirèd for my beauty; | 10 |
| Young men thought they happy were | |
| Who best to me could show their duty: | |
| But now, alack! pains in my back, | |
| And cruel gripings in my belly, | |
| Do force me to cry, O sick am I, | 15 |
| I fear I shall die, alack, and welly! | |
| |
| Instead of mirth, now may I weep, | |
| And sadly for to sit lamenting, | |
| Since he I loved no faith doth keep, | |
| Nor seeks no means for my contenting: | 20 |
| But all regardless of my moan, | |
| Or what lies tumbling in my belly, | |
| He into Sweden now is gone, | |
| And left me to cry, alack, and welly! | |
| |
| It doth the proverb verify— | 25 |
| Folly it were [for] to complain me— | |
| Those that desired my company | |
| Scornfully now they disdain me: | |
| Wanting his sight [who] was my delight, | |
| And cruel grippings in my belly, | 30 |
| Do force me to cry, O sick am I, | |
| I fear I shall die, alack, and welly! | |
| |
| Thus am I to the world a scorn, | |
| My dearest friends will not come nigh me; | |
| Shall I then for his absence mourn | 35 |
| That for his dearest doth deny me? | |
| No, no, no, I will not do so, | |
| With patience I my grief will smother, | |
| And, as he hath cozenèd me, | |
| So will I, by cunning, gull another. | 40 |
| |
| Incontinent to Troynovant, | |
| For my content, I’ll thither hie me, | |
| Where privately from company | |
| Obscurely I’ll lie, where none shall descry me: | |
| And when I’m easèd of my pain | 45 |
| And cruel grippings in my belly, | |
| I for a maid will pass again, | |
| And need not to cry, alack, and welly! | |
| |
THE SECOND PART Some tradesman there I will deceive | |
| By my modesty and carriage, | 50 |
| And I will so myself behave | |
| As by some trick to get a marriage: | |
| And when I’m married, I will so carry it, | |
| As none shall know it by my belly | |
| That ever I have formerly | 55 |
| Had cause to cry, alack, and welly! | |
| |
| And if he be a husband kind, | |
| I’ll true and constant be unto him; | |
| Obedient still he shall me find, | |
| With good respect I’ll duty owe him; | 60 |
| But if he crabbèd be and cross, | |
| And basely beat me, back and belly, | |
| As Vulcan’s Knight, I’ll fit him right, | |
| And scorn to cry, alack, and welly! | |
| |
| A secret friend I’ll keep in store | 65 |
| For my content and delectation, | |
| And now and then in the tavern roar | |
| With jovial gallants, men of fashion: | |
| Sack, or claret, I will call for it, | |
| I’ll scorn to want, or pinch my belly, | 70 |
| But merry will be, in company: | |
| No more will I cry, alack, and welly! | |
| |
| And if I cannot to my mind | |
| A husband get that will maintain me, | |
| I’ll show myself to each man kind, | 75 |
| In hope that it some love will gain me; | |
| But yet so wary I will be, | |
| I’ll shun from ought may wrong my belly. | |
| Through misery to cause me cry, | |
| As formerly, alack, and welly! | 80 |
| |
| Had he I loved but constant proved, | |
| And not have been to me deceitful, | |
| No subtle Sinon should have moved | |
| Me to those odious courses hateful; | |
| But since that he proves false to me, | 85 |
| Not pitying what is in my belly, | |
| No more I will grieve, but merry will be, | |
| And cry no more, alack, and welly! | |
| |
| With resolution firmly bent, | |
| I’ll cast off care and melancholy, | 90 |
| Sorrow and grief and discontent, | |
| To fret and vex, it is but a folly; | |
| Or seek by woe to overthrow, | |
| Or wrong the first fruits of my belly: | |
| No, no, no, no, I’ll not say so, | 95 |
| No more will I cry, alack, and welly! | |
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