Amarantha, sweet and fair, 
Forbear to braid that shining hair, 
As my curious hand or eye, 
Hovering round thee, let it fly;

Let it fly as unconfined 
As its ravisher the wind,
Who has left his darling east 
To wanton o'er this spicy nest.

Every tress must be confessed, 
But neatly tangled at the best,
Like a clew of golden thread 
Most excellently ravellèd.

Do not then wind up that light 
In ribbons, and o'ercloud the night,
Like the sun in his early ray,
But shake your head and scatter day. 

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Confirmed with Art and Song: A Series of Original Highly Finished Steel Engravings from Masterpieces of Art of the Nineteenth Century Accompanied by a Selection of the Choicest Poems in the English Language, ed. by Robert Bell, Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott and Co., London: Bell and Daldy, 1868, page 96.

Text Authorship:

• by Richard Lovelace (1618 - 1658), "Song" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by William Martin Yeates Hurlstone (1876 - 1906), "Forbear to braid that shining hair", published c1907, first performed 1939 [voice and piano], London, Novello (Avison) [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Henry Lawes (c1595 - 1662), "To Amarantha, To dishevell her haire", from the collection Ayres and Dialogues, Book 1 [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-04-15
Line count: 16
Word count: 92