by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Venus lamenting her lost Adonis
Language: English
Wake, my Adonis, do not die, One life's enough for thee and I; Where are thy looks, thy wiles, Thy fears, thy frowns, thy smiles? Alas, in vain I call: One death hath snatch'd them all: Yet death's not deadly in that face, Death in those looks itself hath grace. 'Twas this, 'twas this I feared When thy pale ghost appear'd, This I presag'd, when thundering Jove Tore the best myrtle in my grove; When my sick rosebuds lost their smell, And from my temples untouch'd fell: And was for some such thing My dove first hung her wing. Whither art thou, my Deity, gone? Venus, in Venus there is none: In vain a goddess now am I, Only to grieve and not to die: But I will love my grief, Make tears my tears' relief, And sorrow shall to me A new Adonis be. And this the Fates shan't rob me of whilst I A goddess am to grieve, and not to die.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author ( 17th century )  [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 Charles Coleman (c1605 - 1664), "Venus lamenting her lost Adonis", published 1669? [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: John Versmoren
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 26
Word count: 164