Classic Poem

As : yee came ffrom the holy Land
of walsingham,
mett you not w i th my true loue
by the way as you came? "
" how shold I know yo u r true loue,
tha t haue mett many a one
as I came ffrom the holy Land,
tha t haue come, tha t haue gone? "

" Shee is neither white nor browne,
but as the heauens ffaire;
there is none hathe their fforme diuine
on the earth or the ayre "
" such a one did I meete, good S i r,
w i th an angellike fface,
who like a nimph, like a queene, did appeare
in her gate, in her grace. "

" Shee hath left me heere alone,
all alone as vnknowne,
who sometime loued me as her liffe
& called me her owne. "
" what is the cause shee hath left thee alone,
& a new way doth take,
tha t sometime did loue thee as her selfe,
& her ioy did thee make? "

" I haue loued her all my youth,
but now am old, as you see.
loue liketh not the ffalling ffruite
nor the whithered tree;
for loue is like a carlesse child,
& fforgetts promise past:
he is blind, he is deaffe when he list,
& infaith neuer ffast;

" his desire is ffickle, ffond,
& a trustles ioye;
he is won w i th a world of dispayre,
& lost w i th a toye.
such is the [fate of all man] kind,
Or the word loue abused,
vnder w hi ch many childish desires
& conceipts are excused. "

" But loue is a durabler ffyer
in the mind euer Burninge,
eu er sicke, neu er dead, neu er cold,
ffrom itt selfe neu er turninge. "