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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Wilt thou be gone, Love?
Language: English 
Juliet 
Wilt thou be gone, wilt thou be gone, love, gone, love, from me? 

	Stay! 'tis the Nightingale that sings in yonder tree. 
	Deem not 'tis the Lark, love; day is not yet near 
	Believe me, 'tis the Nightingale whose song hath piered thine ear. 

Wilt thou be gone, wilt thou be gone, love, wilt thou be gone from me? 

	Stay! 'tis the Nightingale that sings in yonder tree.
	Love, 'tis the Nightingale, love, 'tis the Nightingale, love, 
	'tis the Nightingale that sings in yonder tree. 

Wilt thou be gone, wilt thou be gone, love, gone, love, from me gone, love, from me? 
Wilt thou be gone, wilt thou be gone, love, wilt thou be gone from me? 

	Stay! 'tis the Nightingale that sings in yonder tree. 
	Love, 'tis the Nightingale, love, 'tis the Nightingale, love, 'tis the Nightingale that sings in yonder tree. 

Wilt thou be gone, wilt thou be gone, love, gone, love, from me gone, love, from me? 

Romeo 
I must be gone, love, I must be gone from thee 

	'Tis not the nightingale that sings in yonder tree. 
	'Tis the Lark, 'tis the Lark, 'tis the Lark, 'tis the Lark, love, that sings in yonder tree. 

I must be gone, I must be gone, love, gone, love from thee gone, love, from thee. 

	It is the Lark, the herald of the morn, love; no Nightingale. 
	See! the clouds are bright'ning, the stars are growing pale 
	Day is on yon mountain top that veils the eastern sky 

I must be gone and live, love, or stay with thee and die. 
I must be gone, I must be gone, love, I must be gone from thee. 

	'Tis not the Nightingale that sings in yonder tree. 
	'Tis the Lark, 'tis the Lark, 'tis the Lark, 'tis the Lark, love, that sings in yonder tree. 

I must be gone, I must be gone, love, I must be gone, love, from thee.

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) [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 Stephen Collins Foster (1826 - 1864), "Wilt thou be gone, Love?", published 1851. [vocal duet with piano] [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: Laura Prichard [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 27
Word count: 321

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