The cock that treads them shall not know. Have you not heard it said full oft, A woman's nay doth stand for naught?
Think women still to strive with men, To sin, and never for to saint: There is no heaven, by holy then, When time with age doth them attaint. Were kisses all the joys in bed, One woman would another wed.
But, soft! enough, – too much, I fear; Lest that my mistress hear my song; She'll not stick to round me i' the ear, To teach my tongue to be so long: Yet will she blush, here be it said, To hear her secrets so bewray'd.
V
Live with me, and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove, That hills and valleys, dales and fields, And all the craggy mountains yields.
There will we sit upon the rocks, And see the shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers, by whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals.
There will I make thee a bed of roses, With a thousand fragrant posies, A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle.
A belt of straw and ivy buds, With coral clasps and amber studs; And if these pleasures may thee move, Then live with me and be my love.
LOVE'S ANSWER
If that 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.