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by William Browne, of Tavistock (1588 - 1643)

Steer hither, steer your winged pines
Language: English 
Steer hither, steer your winged pines,	
All-beaten mariners!	
Here lie Love's undiscovered mines,	
A prey to passengers;	
[Perfumes far sweeter than the best	
Which make the Phoenix urn and nest.	
Fear not your ships,	
Nor any to oppose you save our lips;	
But come on shore	
Where no joy dies till love hath gotten more.]1

[For swelling waves our panting breasts,
Where never storms arise,
Exchange, and be awhile our guests;
For stars gaze on our eyes.]1
The compass Love shall hourly sing,
And as he goes about the ring,
We [shall]2 not miss
To tell each point he nameth with a kiss,
Then come on shore,
Where no joy dies till love hath gotten more.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   E. Maconchy 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 omitted by Maconchy.
2 Maconchy: "will"

Text Authorship:

  • by William Browne, of Tavistock (1588 - 1643), "Song of the Sirens", appears in Ulysses and Circe [a masque], first published 1615 [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 Elizabeth Maconchy (1907 - 1994), "Sirens' song", 1974 [ chorus ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Robert Still (1910 - 1971), "Song of the Sirens" [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2004-05-02
Line count: 20
Word count: 119

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