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.
...
Four Elizabethan Songs
Song Cycle by Vivian Fine (1913 - 2000)
1. Daybreak
Text Authorship:
- by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "Break of Day"
See other settings of this text.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. Spring's welcome
What bird so sings, yet so does wail? O 'tis the ravish'd nightingale. Jug, jug, jug, tereu! she cries, And still her woes at midnight rise. Brave prick-song! Who is't now we hear? None but the lark so shrill and clear; Now at heaven's gate she clasps her wings, The morn not waking till she sings. Hark, hark, with what a pretty throat Poor robin redbreast tunes his note: Hark how the jolly cuckoos sing Cuckoo! to welcome in the spring! Cuckoo! to welcome in the spring!
Text Authorship:
- by John Lyly (1553 - 1606), "Spring's welcome"
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]3. Dirge
Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
O prepare it!
My part of death, no one so true
Did share it.
...
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Twelfth Night: or, What You Will, Act II, scene 4
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Jan Jonk) , "Kom toch gauw, kom toch gauw, dood", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (David Paley) , "Komm herbei, komm herbei, Tod", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Paolo Montanari) , "Vieni, o morte", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- NOR Norwegian (Bokmål) (Marianne Beate Kielland) , "Kom hit, kom nå hit, død", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- POL Polish (Polski) (Józef Komierowski) , no title
4. The bargain
My true love hath my heart, and I have his, By just exchange one for another given: I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss, There never was a better bargain driven: My true love hath my heart, and I have his. His heart in me keeps him and me in one, My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides: He loves my heart, for once it was his own, I cherish his because in me it bides: My true love hath my heart, and I have his.
Text Authorship:
- by Philip Sidney, Sir (1554 - 1586)
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Note: parodied in Archibald Stodart-Walker's My true friend hath my hat.
Note: Somervell's setting has several changes to the punctuation (as supplied by Mike Pearson):
Line One: No first comma
Line Three: No first comma
Line Five: No first comma
Line Seven: Full stop not colon
Line Eight: Full stop not colon
Line Ten: No first comma