What if a day, or a month, or a yeare Crown thy delights with a thousand sweet contentings? Cannot a chance of a night or an howre Crosse thy desires with as many sad tormentings? Fortune, honor, beauty, youth Are but blossoms dying; Wanton pleasure, doating love, Are but shadowes flying. All our joyes are but toyes, Idle thoughts deceiving; None have power of an howre In their lives bereaving. Earthes but a point to the world, and a man Is but a point to the worlds compared centure: Shall then a point of a point be so vaine As to triumph in a seely points adventure? All is hassard that we have, There is nothing biding; Dayes of pleasure are like streames Through faire meadowes gliding. Weale and woe, time doth goe, Time is ever turning: Secret fates guide our states, Both in mirth and mourning
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Richard Alison’s An Howres Recreation in Musicke, 1606.
Most likely misattributed to Campion, as discussed in A. E. H. Swan's 1907 paper "The Authorship of 'What if a Day,' and Its Various Versions" (Modern Philology, vol. 4, no. 3, Jan. 1907, pp. 397-422). Swan cites the first known appearance of the text in the Scottish Metrical Psalter, published in 1566 (one year before Campion was born), held by the British Museum (add. 33,933, fol. 81b)
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, no title, first published 1606 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
- sometimes misattributed to Thomas Campion (1567 - 1620)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- possibly by John Dowland (1562 - 1626), "What if a day, or a month, or a yeare?", P. 79 (1602?) [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Antonio Zencovich) , "Cosa vuol dire se un giorno, un mese o anche un anno?", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Antonio Zencovich , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2017-02-09
Line count: 24
Word count: 147