The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

Christopher Marlowe

 

Come live with me and by my Love

And we will all the pleasures prove

That hills and valleys, dale and field,

And all the craggy mountains yield.

 

There will we sit upon the rocks

And see the shepherd feed their flocks,

By shallow rivers, to whose falls

Melodious birds sing madrigals.

 

There will I make thee beds of roses

And a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroider’d all with leaves of myrtle.

 

A gown made of the finest wool

Which from our pretty lambs we pull,

Fair linéd slippers for the cold,

With buckles of the purest gold.

 

A belt of straw and ivy buds

With coral clasps and amber studs:

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me and be my Love.

 

Thy silver dishes for thy meat

As precious as the gods do eat,

Shall on an ivory table be

Prepared each day for thee and me.

 

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing

For thy delight each May-morning:

If these delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me and be my Love.

 

Marlowe’s “Passionate Shepherd,” first published in 1599 (six years after his untimely death), is one of the most well-known love poems in the English language.  It has inspired a number of poetic responses, the most famous of which is by Sir Walter Raleigh. “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” is often interpreted as a direct criticism of Marlowe’s pastoral idyll by the older poet.