Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONG by JOHN DOWLAND

First Line: FLOW, MY TEARS! FALL FROM YOUR SPRINGS
Last Line: FEEL NOT THE WORLD'S DESPITE.
Subject(s): HAPPINESS; JOY; DELIGHT;
FLOW, my tears, fall from your springs,
Exiled for ever; let me mourn
Where night's black bird her sad infamy sings,
There let me live forlorn.
Never may my woes be relieved since pity is fled,
And tears, and sighs and groans my weary days of all joys have deprived.

Down, vain lights, shine you no more:
No nights are dark enough for those
That in despair their last fortunes deplore:
Light doth but shame disclose.
From the highest spire of contentment, my fortune is thrown,
And fear, and grief, and pain for my deserts, are my hopes, since hope is gone.

Hark you, shadows that in darkness dwell,
Learn to contemn light,
Happy, happy they that in hell
Feel not the world's despite.



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