by Gaius Valerius Catullus (c84 BCE - 54 BCE)
Translation by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Let us, kind Lesbia, give away
Language: English  after the Latin
Let us, kind Lesbia, give away In soft embraces all the day; We'll laugh at what the old report, And make their gravity our sport. The sun sets ev'ry night, and can Rise ev'ry day as bright again, But when once sets our smallest light, We then shall find it always night: Dissolv'd in sleep, both thou and I Must ever, Lesbia, ever lie. Then let us kiss and kiss again, And give a hundred, thousand more; Let us kiss on as we began, And give as many as before. But lest perchance our printed bliss Some envious rival should descry, We'll wipe out all with one more kiss, And so deceive his jealous eye.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [an adaptation] [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Gaius Valerius Catullus (c84 BCE - 54 BCE), no title, appears in Carmina, no. 5
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Henry Purcell (1658/9 - 1695), "Let us, kind Lesbia, give away", Z. 466, published 1684 [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Dominick Argento (1927 - 2019) , copyright © [an adaptation] ; composed by Dominick Argento.
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Jean-Antoine de Baïf (1532 - 1589) , no title [an adaptation] ; composed by Reynaldo Hahn.
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Georges Lafaye (1854 - 1927) ; composed by Darius Milhaud.
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2003-10-19
Line count: 18
Word count: 115