Take, o take those lips away, That so sweetly [were]1 forsworn; And those eyes, the break of day, Lights [that]2 do mislead the morn: But my kisses bring again; Seals of love, [but]3 seal'd in vain, sealed in vain. Hide, o hide those hills of snow that thy frozen bosom wears, On whose tops the pinks that grow are yet of those that April wears; But first set my poor heart free, Bound in those icy chains by thee.
three madrigals for male choir
Song Cycle by Hendrik de Regt (b. 1950)
?. Take those lips away  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
- sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (L. A. J. Burgersdijk)
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Sarah L. Weller) , "Nimm, so nimm doch Deine Lippen fort", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- POL Polish (Polski) (Jan Kasprowicz) , "Śpiew Pacholęcia", Warsaw, first published 1907
Note: quoted by John Fletcher, in Bloody Brother, 1639 and by William Shakespeare, in Measure for Measure, Act IV, scene 1, c1604 (just one stanza)
1 Bishop: "are"
2 Bishop: "which"
3 Bishop: "tho'"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
?. Threnos  [sung text not yet checked]
THRENOS
Beauty, truth, and rarity,
Grace in all simplicity,
Here enclosed in cinders lie.
[ ... ]
Death is now the phoenix' nest;
And the turtle's loyal breast
To eternity doth rest,
Leaving no posterity:
'Twas not their infirmity,
It was married chastity.
Truth may seem, but cannot be;
Beauty brag, but 'tis not she;
Truth and beauty buried be.
To this urn let those repair
That are either true or fair;
For these dead birds sigh a prayer.
Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "The phoenix and the turtle"
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , "Le Phénix et la colombe"
?. Beauty is but a vain  [sung text not yet checked]
Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good; A shining gloss that vadeth suddenly; A flower that dies when first it 'gins to bud; A brittle glass that 's broken presently: A doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower, Lost, vaded, broken, dead within an hour. And as goods lost are seld or never found, As vaded gloss no rubbing will refresh, As flowers dead lie wither'd on the ground, As broken glass no cement can redress, So beauty blemish'd once 's for ever lost, In spite of physic, painting, pain, and cost.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, no title, appears in The Passionate Pilgrim, no. 13
- sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)