Full Lyrics
Diaphenia, like the Daffdowndilly,
White as the sun, fair as the lily;
Heighho, how I do love thee!
I do love thee as my lambs
Are beloved of their dams.
How blest were I if thou would’st prove me.
Diaphenia, like the spreading roses
That in thy sweets all sweets encloses;
Fair Sweet, how I do love thee!
I do love thee as each flower
Loves the sun’s lifegiving power,
For dead, thy breath to life might move me.
Diaphenia, like to all things blessed,
When all thy praises are expressed;
Dear joy, how I do love thee!
As the birds do love the spring,
Or the bees their careful King,
Then in requite, sweet Virgin love me.
From Francis Pilkington’s
“First Book of Songs or Ayres” (1605)
