Shall I come, sweet love?

Shall I come, sweet love, to thee
  When the evening beams are set?
Shall I not excluded be?
  Will you find no feignèd let?
Let me not, for pity, more
Tell the long hours at your door.

Who can tell what thief or foe
  In the covert of the night
For his prey will work my woe,
  Or through wicked foul despite?
So may I die unredressed,
Ere my long love be possessed.

But to let such dangers pass,
  Which a lover's thoughts disdain,
'Tis enough in such a place
  To attend Love's joys in vain.
Do not mock me in thy bed,
While these cold nights freeze me dead.

Translation(s): GER

List of language codes

Submitted by Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Authorship

• by Thomas Campion (1567 - 1620) [ author's text checked 1 time]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by Thomas Campion (1567 - 1620), "Shall I come, sweet love?", published 1617 [voice and lute or piano], from the collection The Third and Fourth Booke of Ayres - The Third Booke, no. 8. [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

• GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , title 1: "Soll ich, Liebste, zu Dir gehn", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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Soll ich, Liebste, zu Dir gehn

Soll ich, Liebste, zu Dir gehn,
bei des Lichtes letztem Schein?
Werd' ich vor der Türe stehn?
Lässt ein Vorwand mich nicht ein?
Lass mich nicht - erbarm Dich mir -
Stunden stehn vor Deiner Tür.

Weiß ich, welcher arge Dieb
sich im Schutz der finstren Nacht
mir zum Leide sich mein Lieb
voller List zur Beute macht?
Besser sei's, im Grab versenkt,
eh ein Andrer Dich umfängt.

Dass solch' Fährnis ziehe fort,
die ein Liebender veracht',
ist's genug, wenn solch ein Ort
Liebesmüh vergebens macht.
Spott' in Deinem Bett nicht mir,
derweil ich zu Tode frier.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The material directly above is protected by copyright and appears here by special permission. If you wish to copy it and distribute it, you must obtain permission or you will be breaking the law. Once you have permission, you must give credit to the author and display the copyright symbol ©. Copyright infringement is a criminal offense under international law.

Authorship

• Singable translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2014 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
  
  Bertram Kottmann. Contact:
  <BKottmann (AT) t-online.de>
  
  
  If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact:
  
  (licenses at lieder dot net)
  
  
  
  

• a text in English by Thomas Campion (1567 - 1620)
• This text was set to music by the following composer(s): Thomas Campion. Go to the text.

Text added to the website: 2014-01-09.
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:05:27
Line count: 18
Word count: 97