WHO NAMED US GAY?

Who named us gay nor watched the jester weep?
Who shaped us forth from O, so mortal clay,
And struck the tainted dagger to the deep?

Ah, sad, sad song so briefly told,
And clutched at time
That keeps unleisured pace,
What unteared eye
Could watch the young grown old,
What stone cold heart, unmoved,
Could face such wasting?

O, morn bedewed and reaching for the sun,
Ere night has come again her dews are done,
And one by one her jeweled flowers slain.

Into the mirthless wind that knows not spring,
Nor warmth of sun,
Nor summer's bright hot way,
I ask again, no, SHOUT!
Who named us gay?

George Martin