My love is as a fever, longing still
Language: English
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]1 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.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• D. Diamond About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
1 Diamond: "Th'uncertain"
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by David Leo Diamond (1915 - 2005), "My love is as a fever, longing still", 1964, published 1967 [ high voice and piano ], from We Two, no. 6, New York : Southern [sung text checked 1 time]
- 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 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet CXLVII", 1866 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fabian Svensson (b. 1980), "My love is as a fever", 1997-1998, first performed 1998 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller
This text was added to the website: 2005-08-31
Line count: 14
Word count: 108
Come una febbre è l’amore che provo
Language: Italian (Italiano) after the English
Come una febbre è l’amore che provo, sempre invaghito
Di ciò che a prolungare il suo male conviene,
e che, pur di placare questo insano appetito,
vuole nutrirsi di quanto il suo morbo mantiene.
Ragione, che il mio amore curava, mi ha abbandonato
Sdegnata perché dei suoi consigli poco mi cale,
e solamente adesso scopro disperato
che il desiderio, che lei mi vietava, è a me mortale.
Poi che Ragion più non mi cura, non posso guarire,
e sempre agitato in un crescente delirio,
Frasi e pensieri di folle m’è dato in sorte avere,
Vaneggiamenti a caso, lontani dal vero.
Poiché ho stimato buona ed ho pensato pura,
Te, nera come l’inferno e come la notte scura.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2007 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2007-01-29
Line count: 14
Word count: 117