From rosy bow'rs

From rosy bow'rs where sleeps the god of Love,
Hither, ye little waiting Cupids, fly:
Teach me in soft, melodious songs to move,
With tender passion, my heart's darling joy.
Ah! let the soul of music tune my voice,
To win dear Strephon, who my soul enjoys.

Or if more influencing
Is to be brisk and airy,
With a step and a bound,
And a frisk from the ground,
I will trip like any fairy.

As once on Ida dancing,
Were three celestial bodies,
With an air and a face,
And a shape, and a grace,
Let me charm like Beauty's goddess.

Ah! 'tis all in vain,
Death and despair must end the fatal pain,
Cold despair, disguis'd, like snow and rain,
Falls on my breast!

Bleak winds in tempests blow,
My veins all shiver and my fingers glow,
My pulse beats a dead march for lost repose,
And to a solid lump of ice, my poor fond heart is froze.

Or say, ye Pow'rs, my peace to crown,
Shall I thaw myself or drown?
Amongst the foaming billows,
Increasing all with tears I shed,
On beds of ooze and crystal pillows,
Lay down my lovesick head.
Say, say, ye Pow'rs, my peace to crown,
Shall I thaw myself or drown?

No, I'll straight run mad,
That soon my heart will warm;
When once the sense is fled,
Love has no pow'r to charm.

Wild thro' the woods I'll fly,
Robes, locks shall thus be tore;
A thousand deaths I'll die
Ere thus in vain adore.

Translation(s): FRE

List of language codes

Submitted by Virginia Knight

Authorship

• by Thomas d'Urfey (1653 - 1723) [ author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

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

• by Henry Purcell (1658/9 - 1695), "From rosy bow'rs", Z. 578 no. 9 (1694-5), from Don Quixote, no. 9. [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

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

• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , title 1: "Des berceaux de roses où dort le dieu d'amour", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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

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