Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying: And [this]1 same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying. [The]2 glorious lamp of heaven, the Sun, The higher he's a-getting The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he's to setting. That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer; [But being spent, the worse, and worst Times, still succeed the former. ]3 Then be not coy, but use your time; And while ye may, go marry: For having lost but once your prime, You may forever tarry.
Two Duets
Song Cycle by Betty Roe (b. 1930)
1. To Virgins, to Make Much of Time  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), "To the virgins, to make much of time"
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Alfredo García) , "A las vírgenes, para que aprovechen el tiempo", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Lawes: "that"
2 Dring: "That"
3 Lawes: "Expect not the last and worst, / Time still succeeds the former."
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. Music, when soft voices die  [sung text checked 1 time]
Music, when soft voices die, Vibrates in the memory; Odours, when sweet violets sicken, Live within the sense they quicken. Rose leaves, when the rose is dead, Are heaped for the belovèd's bed; And so [thy]1 thoughts, when thou art gone, Love itself shall slumber on.
Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "To ----", appears in Posthumous Poems, first published 1824
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Sloky", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1901
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Martin Stock) , "Musik, wenn leise Stimmen ersterben ...", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Bridge: "my"
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry