Welcome, maids-of-honour!
You do bring
In the spring,
And wait upon her.
She has virgins many,
Fresh and fair;
Yet you are
More sweet than any.
You're the maiden posies,
And so grac'd
To be plac'd
'Fore damask roses.
Yet, though thus respected,
By-and-by
Ye do lie,
Poor girls, neglected.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Welcome, Maids of Honour", op. 44 no. 6 (1949) [ soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, mixed chorus, boys' chorus, and orchestra ], from Spring Symphony, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alan Bullard (b. 1947), "To violets" [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "To violets", op. 196 no. 1 (1991) [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Partsongs to poems by Robert Herrick, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "To violets", 1920, published 1959 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "To violets", op. 50 (Twenty-Five Songs in Five Sets of Five Each: Set I) no. 2 (1922) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Humphrey Procter-Gregg (1895 - 1980), "To violets" [ chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "To violets", op. 7 no. 5 (c1905), published 1907 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Five Lyics of Robert Herrick, no. 5, Forsyth [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Joseph Taffs , "To violets", published 1923, from Album of Five Songs, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 50
Bienvenidas, damas de honor
que llamáis
a la primavera
y la esperáis.
Ella tiene muchas doncellas
frescas y despiertas
pero sois más dulces
que cualquiera de ellas
Sois los ramos de las doncellas
Y tan graciosas
que os preferiría
antes que las rosas de Damasco
Pese a tanto respeto
cuando vuestra hora acaba
nadie os recuerda,
pobre chicas abandonadas.
