Alas! What a wretched life is this!

John Wilbye 1574 (Diss) – 1638 (Colchester)



Alas! What a wretched life is this!
Nay what a death! Where tyrant Love commandeth!
My flow’ring days are in their prime declining,
All my proud hope quite fall’n, and life untwining,
My joys each after other, in haste are flying,
And leave me dying for her that scorns my crying.
Oh she from hence departs, my love refraining,
For whom, all heartless alas! I die complaining.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 15, 2023

20 sec read
84

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCCCCCC
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 381
Words 69
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 8

John Wilbye

John Wilbye (baptized 7 March 1574 – September 1638) was an English madrigal composer. more…

All John Wilbye poems | John Wilbye Books

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