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Two John Donne Songs

Song Cycle by Malcolm Henry Arnold (1921 - 2006)

?. Woman's constancy  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Now thou hast loved me one whole day,
Tomorrow when thou leav'st, what wilt thou say?
Wilt thou then antedate some new made vow?
	   Or say that now
We are not just those persons, which we were?
Or, that oaths made in reverential fear
Of Love, and his wrath, any may forswear?
Or, as true deaths, true marriages untie,
So lovers' contracts, images of those,
Bind but till sleep, death's image, them unloose?
	   Or, your own end to justify,
For having purposed change, and falsehood, you
Can have no way but falsehood to be true?
Vain lunatic, against these 'scapes I could
	   Dispute, and conquer, if I would,
	   Which I abstain to do,
For by tomorrow, I may think so too.

Text Authorship:

  • by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "Woman's constancy"

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

?. The Good‑morrow  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
I wonder, by my troth, what thou, and I 
Did, till we lov'd? Were we not wean'd till then? 
But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly? 
Or snorted we in the seven sleepers' den? 
'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be. 
If ever any beauty I did see, 
Which I desir'd and got, 'twas but a dream of thee. 

And now good morrow to our waking souls, 
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room, an everywhere. 
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone, 
Let Maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown, 
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one. 

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, 
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest 
Where can we find two better hemispheres 
Without sharp North, without declining West? 
Whatever dies was not mixed equally; 
If our two loves be one, or thou and I 
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

Text Authorship:

  • by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "The good-morrow"

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Il buongiorno", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 295
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