O Comus!

O Cupid! Lay low your bow and crack your shafts
Lest with your sharpened points I do undertake
To rid myself of these most unfaithful eyes
That no foul Nymph might make me bow and sway
Like undulating serpent under Eastern piper’s charm
O Cupid! How once I loved thee!
Vile trickster! How now I loathe thee!

O Faunus! Loosen your grip upon my weary heart
Lest with angry fist I tear it pulsing from my chest
To place upon this altar that we have together made
A heap of bloody sheets and tear-stained pillows
I shall make no further sacrifices unto thee
O Faunus! How once I loved thee!
Wretched beast! How now I loathe thee!

O Bacchus! Your draughts and potions do keep away
Lest they darken my mind and cloud my thoughts
An evil canopy that doth deflect the light of Heaven
And drives away those angelic Muses three
Who refuse to sing aloud where darkness reigns
O Bacchus! How once I loved thee!
Foul drunkard! How now I loathe thee!

O Comus! Cease to instruct me in that darkest art
Lest my tongue be transformed into a wand of deception
Had we but yielded to the words of fair Sabrina
And warmed our icy souls beside her fiery truth
We could have quit this darkened forest long ago
O Comus! How once I loved thee!
False father! How now I loathe thee!