A Dialogue between Thyrsis and Dorinda

DORINDA

When death shall part us from these kids,

And shut up our divided lids,

Tell me, Thyrsis, prithee do,

Whither thou and I must go.

THYRSIS

To the Elysium.

DORINDA

                        Oh, where is’t?

THYRSIS

A chaste soul can never miss’t.

DORINDA

I know no way but to our home,

Is our cell Elysium?

THYRSIS

Turn thine eye to yonder sky,

There the milky way doth lie;

’Tis a sure but rugged way,

That leads to everlasting day.

DORINDA

There birds may nest, but how can I

That have no wings and cannot fly?

THYRSIS

Do not sigh, fair nymph, for fire

Hath no wings yet doth aspire

Till it hit against the Pole:

Heaven’s the centre of the soul.

DORINDA

But in Elysium how do they

Pass eternity away?

THYRSIS

Oh, there’s neither hope nor fear,

There’s no wolf, no fox, no bear.

No need of dog to fetch our stray,

Our Lightfoot we may give away;

No oat-pipe’s needful; there thy ears

May sleep with music of the spheres.

DORINDA

Oh sweet! Oh sweet! How I my future state

By silent thinking antedate:

I prithee let us spend our time to come

In talking of Elysium.

THYRSIS

Then I’ll go on. There sheep are full

Of sweetest grass and softest wool;

There birds sing consorts, garlands grow,

Cool winds do whisper, springs do flow.

There always is a rising sun,

And day is ever but begun.

Shepherds there bear equal sway,

And every nymph’s a Queen of May.

DORINDA

Ah me, ah me!

THYRSIS

                        Dorinda, why dost cry?

DORINDA

I’m sick, I’m sick, and fain would die.

Convince me now that this is true

By bidding with me all adieu.

THYRSIS

I cannot live without thee, I,

I’ll for thee, much more with thee, die.

CHORUS

Then let us give Corillo charge o’ the sheep,

And thou and I’ll pick poppies, and them steep

In wine, and drink on’t even till we weep,

So shall we smoothly pass away in sleep.