by Walter Raleigh, Sir (1552? - 1618)
Language: English
If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love.
...
The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields;
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.
Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten-
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.
Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.
But could youth last and love still breed,
Had joys no date nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy love.
A response to Marlowe's The passionate shepherd to his love
Note: the first stanza was published in The Passionate Pilgrim after no. 20.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Note: the first stanza was published in The Passionate Pilgrim after no. 20.
Composition:
- Set to music by Vivian Fine (1913 - 2000), "Her reply", 1938, first performed 1975, stanzas 1,3-6 [ SSA chorus a cappella ], from The Passionate Shepherd to his Love and Her Reply, no. 2
Text Authorship:
- by Walter Raleigh, Sir (1552? - 1618), "The nymph's reply to the shepherd"
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Adolf von Marées) , "Der Nymphe Entgegnung"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-01-23
Line count: 24
Word count: 169