Five Songs by Keats

Song Cycle by Clarence S. Hill

?. Where be you going, you Devon maid  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Where be [ye]1 going, you Devon Maid? 
   And what have ye there in the Basket? 
Ye tight little fairy just fresh from the dairy, 
   Will ye give me some cream if I ask it? 

I love your Meads, and I love your flowers, 
   And I love your junkets mainly, 
But 'hind the door I love kissing more, 
   O look not so disdainly. 

I love your hills, and I love your dales, 
   And I love your flocks a-bleating -- 
But O, on the heather to lie together, 
   With both our hearts a-beating! 

I'll put your Basket all safe in [a]2 nook, 
   Your shawl [I]3 hang up on the willow, 
And we will sigh in the daisy's eye 
   And kiss on [a]2 grass green pillow.

Text Authorship:

  • by John Keats (1795 - 1821), "The Devon maid", subtitle: "Stanzas Sent in a Letter to B. R. Haydon"

See other settings of this text.

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

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Bridge, Quilter: "you"
2 Bridge: "the"
3 Bridge, Quilter: "I'll"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

?. Shed no tear! O shed no tear!  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Shed no tear! oh, shed no tear!
The flower will bloom another year.
Weep no more! oh, weep no more!
Young buds sleep in the root's white core.
Dry your eyes! oh, dry your eyes!
For I was taught in Paradise
To ease my breast of melodies, -- 
                            Shed no tear.

Overhead! look overhead!
'Mong the blossoms white and red -- 
Look up, look up! I flutter now
On this fresh pomegranate bough.
See me! 'tis this silvery bill
Ever cures the good man's ill.
Shed no tear! oh, shed no tear!
The flower will bloom another year.
Adieu, adieu -- I fly -- adieu!
I vanish in the heaven's blue, -- 
                             Adieu, adieu!

Text Authorship:

  • by John Keats (1795 - 1821), "The faery bird's song"

See other settings of this text.

First published in Plymouth and Devonport Weekly Journal, October 1838.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 235