Crabbed age and youth cannot live together: Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care; Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather; Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare. Youth is full of sport, age's breath is short; Youth is nimble, age is lame; Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold; Youth is wild, and age is tame. Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee; O, my love, my love is young! Age, I do defy thee: O, sweet shepherd, hie thee, For methinks thou stay'st too long.
Songs of Youth
Song Cycle by Hans Gál (1890 - 1987)
1. Crabbèd age and youth
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, no title, appears in The Passionate Pilgrim, no. 12, first published 1599
- sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title
2. Love is a sickness
Love is a sickness full of woes, All remedies refusing; A plant that with most cutting grows, Most barren with best using, Why so? More we enjoy it, more it dies; If not enjoy'd, it sighing cries -- Heigh ho! Love is a torment of the mind, A tempest everlasting; And Jove hath made it of a kind Not well, nor full, nor fasting. Why so? More we enjoy it, more it dies; If not enjoy'd, it sighing cries -- Heigh ho!
Text Authorship:
- possibly by Samuel Daniel (1562 - 1619), "Love is a sickness"
- possibly by Thomas Maske , "Love is a sickness"
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Lieb' ist ein Siechtum", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936
3. Tell me where is Fancy bred
Tell me where is Fancy bred, Or in the heart, or in the head? How begot, how nourishèd? Reply, reply. It is engender'd in the eyes, With gazing fed; and Fancy dies In the cradle where it lies. Let us all ring Fancy's knell: I'll begin it, - Ding, dong, bell.
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, written 1596, appears in The Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene 2
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Victor Hugo)
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Dimmi dove nasce amore", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
4. Capriccio
Love in my bosom like a bee Doth suck his sweet; Now with his wings he plays with me, Now with his feet. Within my eyes he makes his nest, His bed amidst my tender breast; My kisses are his daily feast, And yet he robs me of my rest. Ah, wanton, will ye? And if I sleep, then percheth he With pretty flight, And makes his pillow of my knee The livelong night. Strike I my lute, he tunes the string; He music plays if so I sing; He lends me every lovely thing; Yet cruel he my heart doth sting. Whist, wanton, still ye! Else I with roses every day Will whip you hence, And bind you, when you long to play, For your offense. I’ll shut my eyes to keep you in, I’ll make you fast it for your sin, I’ll count your power not worth a pin. Alas! what hereby shall I win If he gainsay me? What if I beat the wanton boy With many a rod? He will repay me with annoy, Because a god. Then sit thou safely on my knee, Then let thy bower my bosom be; Lurk in mine eyes, I like of thee. O Cupid, so thou pity me, Spare not, but play thee!
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Lodge (1558 - 1625)
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Research team for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor] , Eva Fox-Gal5. Epilogue
All my past life is mine no more, The flying hours are gone, Like transitory dreams giv’n o’er, Whose images are kept in store By memory alone. The time that is to come is not; How can it then be mine? The present moment’s all my lot; And that, as fast as it is got, My love, is only thine. Then talk not of inconstancy, False hearts, and broken vows; If I, by miracle, can be This live-long minute true to thee, ’Tis all that Heaven allows.
Text Authorship:
- by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647 - 1680)
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Leben und Liebe", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936