The Wedding (Lanier)

O marriage-bells, your clamor tells Two weddings in one breath. She marries whom her love compels: —And I wed Goodman Death! My brain is blank, my tears are red; Listen, O God: — “I will,” he said: — And I would that I were dead. Come groomsman Grief and bridesmaid Pain Come and stand with a ghastly twain. My Bridegroom Death is come o’er the meres To wed a bride with bloody tears. Ring, ring, O bells, full merrily: Life-bells to her, death-bells to me: O Death, I am true wife to thee!