Sweet, stay awhile

Sweet stay awhile, why [will]1 you rise?
The light you see comes from your eyes:
The day breaks not; it is my heart,
To think that [you and I]2 must part.
O stay, or else my joys must die,
And perish in their infancy.

[Dear, let me die in]3 this fair breast,
Far sweeter than the Phoenix' nest.
Love raise desire [by his]4 sweet charms
Within [this circle of thine]5 arms:
And let [thy]6 blissful kisses cherish
Mine infant joys, [that else must]7 perish.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Lawes: "do"
² Lawes: "I from you"
³ Lawes: "O let me die on"
⁴ Lawes: "with thy"
⁵ Lawes: "the centre of your"
⁶ Lawes: "those"
⁷ Lawes: "which else would"

Submitted by Emily Ezust [Administrator]

The text shown is a variant of another text.

It is based on

• a text in English by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "Break of Day"
• This text was set to music by the following composer(s): Geoffrey Bush, Rebecca Clarke, William Corkine, Malcolm Gordon Davidson, Matthew Emery, Vivian Fine, Eleanor Everest Freer, Harl McDonald, Michael John Trotta, Peter Warlock. Go to the text.

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

• by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , "Sweet, stay awhile", c1630. [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Judith Cloud , "Sweet, stay awhile" [voice and piano] [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by John Dowland (1562 - 1626), "Sweet, stay awhile" [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Henry Lawes (c1595 - 1662), "Sweet, stay awhile" [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Michael Ostrzyga (b. 1975), "Sweet, stay awhile", 2001. [chorus and instrumental ensemble] [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Settings in other languages or adaptations:

• Also set in English, original text by John Donne (1572 - 1631) , title 1: "Break of Day" by Rebecca Clarke, Peter Warlock, Vivian Fine, Harl McDonald, William Corkine, Malcolm Gordon Davidson, Geoffrey Bush, Eleanor Everest Freer, Matthew Emery, Michael John Trotta.
  • Go to the text.
    

Text added to the website: 2003-10-12T00:00:00.
Last modified: 2014-08-20T10:09:30
Line count: 12
Word count: 84

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