Go, lovely Rose! -- Tell her, that wastes her time and me, That now she knows, When I resemble her to thee, How sweet and fair she seems to be. Tell her that's young, And shuns to have her graces spied That hadst thou sprung In deserts, where no men abide, Thou must have uncommended died. Small is the worth Of beauty from the light retir'd; Bid her come forth, Suffer herself to be [desir'd]1, And not blush so to be admir'd. Then die! -- that she The common fate of all things rare May read in thee: How small a part of time they share That are so wondrous sweet and fair! Yet though thou fade, From thy dead leaves let fragrance rise; And teach the maid That goodness time's rude hand defies; That virtue lives when beauty dies.
Three Songs about Love
Song Cycle by Samuel Hans Adler (b. 1928)
1. Go, lovely rose  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by Edmund Waller (1608 - 1687)
- by Henry Kirke White (1785 - 1806)
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- SPA Spanish (Español) (José Miguel Llata) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
See also Ezra Pound's Envoi.
1 Attwood: "admir'd" [possibly a mistake]
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
2. A ditto
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as soon as we obtain it. —
3. Song
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as soon as we obtain it. —