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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

My love is as a fever
 (Sung text for setting by N. Lee)
 Matches original text
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
The uncertain sickly appetite to please.
My reason, the physician to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,
Hath left me, and I desperate now approve
Desire is death, which physic did except.
Past cure I am, now Reason is past care,
And frantic-mad with evermore unrest;
My thoughts and my discourse as madmen's are,
At random from the truth vainly express'd;
  For I have sworn thee fair and thought thee bright,
  Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.

Composition:

    Set to music by Noël Lee (1924 - 2013), "My love is as a fever", 1996 [ bass-baritone, clarinet, horn, and contrabass ], from Sonnets de soleil, de sanglots - Four Songs from Shakespeare, no. 3

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 147

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (L. A. J. Burgersdijk)
  • FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 147, first published 1857
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Come una febbre è l’amore che provo", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller

This text was added to the website: 2005-08-31
Line count: 14
Word count: 108

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