Two Duets

Song Cycle by Betty Roe (b. 1930)

1. To Virgins, to Make Much of Time
(Sung text)

Language: English

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the Sun,
The higher he's a-getting
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times, still succeed the former. 

Then be not coy, but use your time;
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may forever tarry.

Text Authorship:

by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), "To the virgins, to make much of time"

See other settings of this text.

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

SPA Spanish (Español) (Alfredo García) , "A las vírgenes, para que aprovechen el tiempo", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. Music, when soft voices die
(Sung text)

Language: English

Music, when soft voices die,	
Vibrates in the memory;
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heaped for the belovèd's bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.

Text Authorship:

by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "To ----", appears in Posthumous Poems, first published 1824

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

CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Sloky", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1901

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

Total word count: 147