Now, O Now, I Needs Must Part

Now, O, now, I needs must part,

parting though I absent mourn.

Absence can no joy impart,

joy, once fled, cannot return.

Refrain

Sad despair doth drive me hence,

this despair unkindness sends.

If that parting be offence,

it is she which then offends!

While I live I needs must love,

Love lives not when hope is gone:

Now, at last, despair doth prove,

Love divided loveth none.

Dear, when from thee I am gone,

Gone are all my joys at once.

I loved thee and thee alone,

in whose love I joyed once.

And, although your sight I leave,

sight wherein my joys do lie,

'Till that Death do sense bereave,

never shall affection die.

Dear, if I do not return,

Love and I shall die together.

For my absence never mourn,

whom you might have joined ever.

Part we must, though now I die,

Die I do to part with you;

Him despair doth cause to lie,

who both loved and dieth true.