Come when I call

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of intense longing and a plea for presence, framed by a speaker grappling with fear and jealousy. The opening lines immediately establish a dynamic of waiting and potential unresponsiveness: "Come when I call, or tarrie til I come." This sets a tone of anxious anticipation, where the speaker feels compelled to prove their own worth or intentions if met with silence, stating, "If you bee deafe I must prove dumb." The emotional core seems to revolve around the pain of separation and the desperate desire for connection. The central tension arises from the conflict between the speaker's overwhelming love and the external forces or internal anxieties that threaten it. The speaker assures their beloved, "I come with wings of love," suggesting a pure and swift devotion. Yet, this is juxtaposed with the fear of "envious eyes" and the "griefe of delay." The lyrics suggest that the greatest obstacles are not external dangers but the internal turmoil of doubt and impatience, as the speaker notes, "Feare ever hurts more than jealousie." The craft here is in the stark contrast between the idealized vision of love and the harsh reality of its perceived fragility. The speaker oscillates between declarations of eternal love ("love till we die") and expressions of profound suffering ("languish here, wanting relief"). This push and pull creates a palpable sense of desperation. The repeated emphasis on "griefe," "sorrow," and "mourning" underscores the speaker's current state, making the final exhortation to "end with joy our mourning" feel like a hard-won, almost defiant, aspiration rather than a simple resolution.