by William Oldys (1696 - 1761)

On a fly drinking out of his cup
 (Sung text for setting by P. Hindemith)
 See original
Language: English 
Busy, curious, thirsty Fly,
Drink with me and drink as I;
Freely welcome to my Cup,
Could'st thou sip, and sip it up;
Make the most of Life you may,
Life is short and wears away.

Both alike are mine and thine,
Hastening quick to their Decline;
Thine's a Summer, mine's no more,
Though repeated to threescore;
Threescore Summers when they're gone,
Will appear as short as one.

Composition:

    Set to music by Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963), "On a fly drinking out of his cup", published 1944 [ high voice or medium voice and piano ], from Nine English Songs, no. 9

Text Authorship:

  • by William Oldys (1696 - 1761), "The Fly", subtitle: "An Anacreontick"

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 70