Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
Description
Possibly the song shown on page 271 of the New Oxford Book of Seventeenth-Century Verse, which starts:
All night I weep, all day I cry, ay me;
I still do wish, though yet deny, ay me;
I sigh, I mourn, I say that still
I only am the store for ill, ay me;
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Annotations
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“All night I weepe”
All night I weep, all day I cry, ay me;
I still do wish, though yet deny, ay me;
I sigh, I mourn, I say that still
I only am the store for ill, ay me.In coldest hopes I freeze, yet burn, ay me;
From flames I strive to fly, yet turn, ay me;
From grief I haste but sorrows hie,
And on my heart all sorrows lie, ay me.From contraries I seek to run, ay me;
But contraries I cannot shun, ay me;
For they delight their force to try,
And to despair my thoughts do tie.Whither, alas, shall I go, ay me;
Whenas despair all hopes outgo? ay me;
If to the forest, Cupid hies,
And my poor soul to his law ties, ay me.To the court? Oh no. He cries fie, ay me;
There you no true love shall espy, ay me;
Leave that place to falsest lovers,
Your true love all truth discovers, ay me.Then quiet rest, and no more prove, ay me;
All places are alike to love, ay me;
And constant be in this begun;
Yet say, til life with love be done, ay me.
Lady Mary Wroth
(1621)The New Oxford Book of Seventeenth-Century Verse By Alastair Fowler (p. 229)