Amarantha, sweet and fair, 
Forbear to braid that shining hair, 
As my curious hand or eye, 
Hovering round thee, let it fly;

Let it fly as unconfined 
As its [ravisher]1 the wind,
Who has left his darling [east]2 
To wanton o'er this spicy nest.

Every tress must be confessed, 
But neatly tangled at the best,
Like a clew of golden thread 
Most excellently ravellèd.

Do not then wind up that light 
In ribbons, and o'ercloud [the]3 night,
Like the sun [in his]4 early ray,
But shake your head and scatter day. 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
Confirmed with Art and Song: A Series of Original Highly Finished Steel Engravings from Masterpieces of Art of the Nineteenth Century Accompanied by a Selection of the Choicest Poems in the English Language, ed. by Robert Bell, Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott and Co., London: Bell and Daldy, 1868, page 96.

¹ Lawes: "calm ravisher"
² Lawes: "the East"
³ Lawes: "in"
⁴ Lawes: "in's"

Text Authorship:

• by Richard Lovelace (1618 - 1658), "Song" [author's text checked 1 time 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 William Martin Yeates Hurlstone (1876 - 1906), "Forbear to braid that shining hair", published c1907, first performed 1939 [voice and piano], London, Novello (Avison) [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Henry Lawes (c1595 - 1662), "To Amarantha, To dishevell her haire", from the collection Ayres and Dialogues, Book 1 [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-04-15
Line count: 16
Word count: 95