Come, weep no more, for 'tis in vain; <br />Torment not thus your pretty heart; <br />Think, Flavia, we may meet again, <br />As well as that we now must part. <br /> <br />You sigh and weep; the gods neglect <br />That precious dew your eyes let fall; <br />Our joy and grief with like respect <br />They mind, and that is not at all. <br /> <br />We pray, in hopes they will be kind, <br />As if they did regard our state; <br />They hear, and the return we find <br />Is, that no prayers can alter Fate. <br /> <br />Then clear your brow, and look more gay; <br />Do not yourself to grief resign; <br />Who knows but that those powers may <br />The pair they now have parted join? <br /> <br />But since they have thus cruel been, <br />And could such constant lovers sever, <br />I dare not trust, lest, now they're in, <br />They should divide us two for ever. <br /> <br />Then, Flavia, come, and let us grieve, <br />Remembering, though, upon what score; <br />This our last parting look believe, <br />Believe we must embrace no more. <br /> <br />Yet should our sun shine out at last, <br />And Fortune, without more deceit, <br />Throw but one reconciling cast, <br />To make two wandering lovers meet; <br /> <br />How great then would our pleasures be <br />To find heaven kinder than believed, <br />And we, who had no hopes to see <br />Each other, to be thus deceived! <br /> <br />But say, should heaven bring no relief; <br />Suppose our sun should never rise; <br />Why, then, what's due to such a grief <br />We've paid already with our eyes.<br /><br />Matthew Prior<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/songs-set-to-music-4-set-by-mr-smith/
