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by Ben Jonson (1572 - 1637)

Come my Celia, let us prove
Language: English 
Come my Celia, let us prove,
We may the sweets of love,
Time will not be ours for ever,
He at lenght our good will sever,
Spend not then his gifts in vaine,
Sunnes that set may rise again,
But if we once loose this light,
'tis with us perpetuall night.
Why should wee deferre our joyes?
Fame and rumour are but toyes.
Cannot we delude the eyes
Of a few poore household spyes,
Or his easier eares beguile,
Thus removed by our wile?
'tis no sinne loves fruit to steale,
but the sweete theft to reveale,
to be taken, to be seene,
these have crimes accounted been.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Ben Jonson (1572 - 1637) [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 Ernst Alexander 'Sas' Bunge (1924 - 1980), "Song to Celia", published 1966, from Three poems of Ben Jonson, no. 2. [
     text not verified 
    ]
  • by Alfonso Ferrabosco (c1575 - 1628), "Come my Celia", from Ayres 1609 [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: Linda Godry

This text was added to the website: 2007-07-06
Line count: 18
Word count: 108

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