Love Is a Sickness

Song Meaning

This song paints a bleak, almost paradoxical picture of love, framing it as an incurable ailment. The opening lines immediately establish a tone of despair, calling love a "sickness full of woes" that resists all cures. It's presented as a perverse plant, thriving on neglect and withering under care, a concept that defies conventional understanding of nurturing relationships. The narrator questions this inherent contradiction, seeking an explanation for love's destructive nature. The central tension lies in love's unresolvable paradox: it perishes with enjoyment and languishes without it. The repeated refrain, "More we enjoy it, more it dies; If not enjoy'd, it sighing cries -- Heigh ho!" encapsulates this agonizing bind. This creates a sense of inescapable suffering, where any attempt to engage with love leads to its demise, yet its absence is equally painful, marked by mournful sighs. The lyrics employ stark, almost clinical metaphors to describe love's impact. It's not just a sickness but a "torment of the mind," a relentless "tempest everlasting." The narrator notes that even the gods, represented by Jove, have crafted love in a way that offers no true satisfaction, existing in a state of perpetual imbalance – neither fulfilling nor entirely absent. This suggests a fundamental flaw in love's design, making contentment impossible. Ultimately, the effectiveness of these lyrics stems from their unflinching portrayal of love's inherent suffering and contradiction. By stripping away any romantic notions and focusing on its tormenting, paradoxical qualities, the song resonates with a deep sense of frustration and despair. The simple, almost folk-like structure and the mournful "Heigh ho!" underscore the feeling of resignation to love's inescapable, painful nature.