Thomas Heywood

The Message

YE little birds that sit and sing
    Amidst the shady valleys,
And see how Phillis sweetly walks
    Within her garden-alleys;
Go, pretty birds, about her bower;
Sing, pretty birds, she may not lower;
Ah me! methinks I see her frown!
        Ye pretty wantons, warble.

Go tell her through your chirping bills,
    As you by me are bidden,
To her is only known my love,
    Which from the world is hidden.
Go, pretty birds, and tell her so,
See that your notes strain not too low,
For still methinks I see her frown;
        Ye pretty wantons, warble.

Go tune your voices' harmony
    And sing, I am her lover;
Strain loud and sweet, that every note
    With sweet content may move her:
And she that hath the sweetest voice,
Tell her I will not change my choice:
—Yet still methinks I see her frown!
        Ye pretty wantons, warble.

O fly! make haste! see, see, she falls
    Into a pretty slumber!
Sing round about her rosy bed
    That waking she may wonder:
Say to her, 'tis her lover true
That sendeth love to you, to you!
And when you hear her kind reply,
        Return with pleasant warblings.