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Three songs

Song Cycle by Arthur Wilder Thayer (1857 - 1934)

?. Nay, but you  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Nay but you, who do not love her,
  Is she not pure gold, my mistress?
Holds earth aught -- speak truth -- above her?
  Aught like this tress, see, and this tress,
And this last fairest tress of all,
So fair, see, ere I let it fall?
Because, you spend your lives in praising;
  To praise, you search the wide world over:
Then why not witness, calmly gazing,
  If earth holds aught -- speak truth -- above her?
Above this tress, and this, I touch
But cannot praise, I love so much!

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Browning (1812 - 1889), "Song", appears in Bells and Pomegranates, No. VII, first published 1845

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 88
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