The Milkmaid’s Epithalamium

Joy to the bridegroom and the bride

That lie by one another’s side!

O fie upon the virgin beds,

No loss is gain but maidenheads.

Love quickly send the time may be

When I shall deal my rosemary!

I long to simper at a feast,

To dance, and kiss, and do the rest.

When I shall wed, and bedded be

O then the qualm comes over me,

And tells the sweetness of a theme

That I ne’er knew but in a dream.

You ladies have the blessed nights,

I pine in hope of such delights.

And silly damsel only can

Milk the cows’ teats and think on man:

And sigh and wish to taste and prove

The wholesome sillabub of love.

Make haste, at once twin-brothers bear;

And leave new matter for a star.

Women and ships are never shown

So fair as when their sails be blown.

Then when the midwife hears your moan,

I’ll sigh for grief that I have none.

And you, dear knight, whose every kiss

Reaps the full crop of Cupid’s bliss,

Now you have found, confess and tell

That single sheets do make up hell.

And then so charitable be

To get a man to pity me.