How can I then return in happy plight
Language: English
How can I then return in happy plight,
That am debarred the benefit of rest?
When day's oppression is not eas'd by night,
But day by night and night by day oppress'd,
And each, though enemies to either's reign,
Do in consent shake hands to torture me,
The one by toil, the other to complain
How far I toil, still farther off from thee.
I tell the day, to please him thou art bright,
And dost him grace when clouds do blot the heaven:
So flatter I the swart-complexion'd night,
When sparkling stars twire not thou gild'st the even.
But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer,
And night doth nightly make grief's length seem stronger.
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 Michael G. Cunningham (b. 1937), "Epilogue", op. 74 (1976) [ SATB soli, SATB chorus, orchestra or piano ], from Symphonic Arias -- Night [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bernard van Dieren (1887 - 1936), "Introduction: Sonnet XXVIII", 1916 [ baritone and orchestra ], from Diaphony (Diafonia), no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XXVIII", 1865 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Carlos Claudio Spies (1925 - 2020), no title, 1976-7, first performed 1978 [ satb quartet and piano ], from Five Sonnet-Settings, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 28, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Come in un più felice stato potrò fare ritorno", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-10-15
Line count: 14
Word count: 116
Come in un più felice stato potrò fare ritorno
Language: Italian (Italiano) after the English
Come in un più felice stato potrò fare ritorno,
se il dono del riposo più non mi appartiene?
Se più non scioglie, la notte, gli affanni del giorno,
ma notte il giorno, e il giorno notte opprime,
E l'uno e l'altro, pure se di regni avversi,
si fanno però alleati per darmi tormento,
l'uno con le fatiche, l'altra con i rimorsi
per il mio affannarmi lontano, a te sempre meno accanto.
Al giorno dico che tu per lui doni splendore,
e, se nubi macchiano il cielo, la sua bellezza aumenti:
e la bruno-vestita notte mi sforzo di lusingare
dicendo che, se non scintillano gli astri, tu la sera inargenti.
Ma quotidianamente il giorno prolunga la mia sofferenza,
e, ogni notte, la notte le mie pene aumenta.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2012 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2012-04-30
Line count: 14
Word count: 126
