Stay, O sweet, and do not rise

Stay, O sweet, and do not rise ;
The light, that shines comes from thine eyes ;
The day breaks not, it is my heart,
Because that you and I must part.
  Stay, or else my joys will die,
  And perish in their infancy.

'T is true, 't is day; what though it be?
O wilt thou therefore rise from me?
Why should we rise because 'tis light?
Did we lie down because 'twas night?
  Love, which in spite of darkness brought us hither,
  Should in despite of light keep us together.

Light hath no tongue, but is all eye.
If it could speek as well as spy,
This were the worst that it could say: -
That, being well, I fain would stay,
  And that I lov'd my heart and honour so,
  That I would not from him, that had them, go.

Must business thee from hence remove?
Oh, that's the worse disease of love!
The poor, the fool, the false, love can
Admit, but not the busied man.
  He, which hath business, and makes love, doth do
  Such wrong, as when a married man doth woo.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship

• by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "Break of Day" [ author's text verified 1 time]

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

• by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "Stay o sweet", published 1948, from Three Elizabethan Songs [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979), "Daybreak", early 1940s, stanza 1? [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by William Corkine (fl. 1610-2), "Break of day" [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Malcolm Gordon Davidson (1891 - 1949), "Stay o sweet", published 1923. [medium voice and piano] [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Matthew Emery (b. 1991), "Stay o sweet and do not rise", 2012, stanza 1. [SATB chorus a cappella] [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Vivian Fine (1913 - 2000), "Daybreak", 1937-8, first performed 1941, stanza 1 [soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano], from Four Elizabethan Songs, no. 1. [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Eleanor Everest Freer (1864 - 1942), "Daybreak", op. 4 no. 7, published 1905 [voice and piano], from A Book of Songs, no. 7. [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Harl McDonald (1899 - 1955), "Break of day", published 1939. [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Michael John Trotta (b. 1978), "Break of day", published 2013 [SATB chorus, piano, and English horn or oboe], Carl Fischer [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "Break of day", 1918, lost [
   text not verified 
  ]

Settings in other languages:

• Also set in English, [adaptation] by Henry Lawes, Anonymous/Unidentified Artist, John Dowland, Michael Ostrzyga, Judith Cloud.
  • Go to the text.
    

Text added to the website: 2008-07-26.
Last modified: 2014-08-20 10:06:07
Line count: 24
Word count: 188

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