Nine Sets of Four Songs Each, Set IV , opus 85

by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949)

1. Love‑sick I am  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Love-sick I am, and must endure
A desperate grief, that finds no cure.
Ah me !  I try ; and trying, prove
No herbs have power to cure love.
Only one sovereign salve I know,
And that is death, the end of woe.

Text Authorship:

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Confirmed with Works of Robert Herrick. Vol I, Alfred Pollard, ed., London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891, page 72.


2. Upon Cupid  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Old wives have often told how they
Saw Cupid bitten by a flea ;
And thereupon, in tears half drown'd,
He cried aloud : Help, help the wound !
He wept, he sobb'd, he call'd to some
To bring him lint and balsamum,
To make a tent, and put it in
Where the stiletto pierced the skin
Which, being done, the fretful pain
Assuaged, and he was well again.

Text Authorship:

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Confirmed with Works of Robert Herrick, Vol I, ed. by Alfred Pollard, London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891, page 19.


3. To the willow tree  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Thou art to all lost love the best,
   The only true plant found,
Wherewith young men and maids distress'd,
   And left of love, are crown'd.

When once the lover's rose is dead,
   Or laid aside forlorn:
Then willow-garlands 'bout the head
   Bedew'd with tears are worn.
	
When with neglect, the lover's bane,
   Poor maids rewarded be,
For their love lost, their only gain
   Is but a wreath from thee.

And underneath thy cooling shade,
   When weary of the light,
The love-spent youth and love-sick maid
   Come to weep out the night.

Text Authorship:

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Confirmed with Works of Robert Herrick, Vol I, ed. by Alfred Pollard, London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891, page 132.


4. To the Nightingale and Robin Redbreast  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
When I departed am, ring thou my knell,
Thou pitiful and pretty Philomel :
And when I'm laid out for a corse, then be
Thou sexton, redbreast, for to cover me.

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), "To the Nightingale and Robin Redbreast"

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Confirmed with Works of Robert Herrick, Vol I, ed. by Alfred Pollard, London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891, page 138.