Sweet heart, arise! why do you sleep
When lovers wanton sports do keep?
The sun doth shine, the birds do sing,
And May delight and joy doth bring:
Then join we hands and dance till night,
’Tis pity love should want his right.

Lyrics from the Song-Books of the Elizabethan Age, ed. by A. H. Bullen, London, John C. Nimmo, 1887, page 112.

Text Authorship:

• by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Thomas Weelkes (1576 - 1623), "Sweet heart, arise! why do you sleep", published 1598 [vocal quintet], from the collection Ballets and Madrigals to five voices, madrigal [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-02-25
Line count: 6
Word count: 43