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"

The text shown is a variant of another text. [ View differences ]
It is based on

• a text in English by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "Break of Day"
  • Go to the text page.

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 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Judith Cloud (1954 - 2023), "Sweet, stay awhile" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Dowland (1562 - 1626), "Sweet, stay awhile" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Henry Lawes (c1595 - 1662), "Sweet, stay awhile" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Michael Ostrzyga (b. 1975), "Sweet, stay awhile", 2001 [ chorus and instrumental ensemble ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-10-12
Line count: 12
Word count: 91