Wilbye’s Weep, Weep Mine Eyes

John Wilbye (1574 – 1638) wrote this beautiful madrigal, apparently published in 1609.

Here are the lyrics:

Weep, weep mine eyes, my heart can take no rest.

Weep, weep my heart, mine eyes shall ne’er be blest.

Weep eyes, weep heart, and both this accent cry:

A thousand, thousand deaths I die.

Ay me! Ah, cruel fortune, ay me!

Now, Leander, to die I fear not;

Death, do thy worst! I care not!

I hope when I am dead, in Elysian plain

To meet, and there with joy we’ll love again.

The madrigal traces the tragic story in Greek mythology of the love of Leander and Hero. Of the sad affair, Greek Mythology dot com says:

Leander was a young man from Abydos in Greek mythology, who lived on the eastern shores of the Hellespont. he fell in love with Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite, who lived in a tower in Sestos, on the western shores of the strait. Leander would swim across the strait every night to meet her, guided by a lamp that Hero would light at the top of the tower. This went on for a whole summer. However, one night when the weather was bad, the light was blown by the wind and the winds made Leander's task very difficult. He eventually got lost and drowned in the sea. When Hero saw his body washed ashore, she fell off her tower to meet him in the afterlife.

Mythology was a frequent source of poetry and lyrics in the Renaissance period, John Wilbye’s time frame. Renaissance scholars were particularly fascinated with the ancient Greeks.

I find this madrigal so beautiful and expressive, especially at the lyrics “Ay, me.”

The lyrics apparently were written by an anonymous source, based on the work of John Dowland (1562/63-1626).