On a day, alack the day!
Love, whose month was ever May,
Spied a blossom passing fair
Playing in the wanton air:
Through the velvet leaves the wind,
All unseen, 'gan passage find;
That the lover, sick to death,
Wish'd himself the heaven's breath.
"Air", quoth he, "thy cheeks may blow;
[Air, would]1 I might triumph so!
But, alas my hand [hath]2 sworn
Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn:
Vow, alack, for youth unmeet;
Youth so apt to pluck a sweet.3
Thou for whom Jove would swear
Juno but an Ethiope were,
And deny himself for Jove,
Turning mortal for thy love."

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Shakespeare, The Tragedies and the Poems, J M Dent & Sons Limited, page 535.

¹ Jackson: "Would that"
² Jackson: "is"
³ Jackson adds: "Do not call it sin in me/ If I am forsworn for thee;"

Text Authorship:

• possibly by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets to sundry notes of music, no. 2, appears in The Passionate Pilgrim, no. 16, first published 1599 [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 Jackson (1730 - 1803), "Elegy 1", op. 3 no. 2, published 1762 [ vocal trio for 2 tenors, bass and continuo ], from Elegies, no. 2, Confirmed with Elegies, composed by William Jackson of Exeter, London 1762. [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Daniel Ruyneman (1886 - 1963), "On a day, alack the day", 1949 [sung text not yet checked]

Set in a modified version by Thomas Chilcot, Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir.

• Go to the text. [ view differences ] FRE
  

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2008-06-09
Line count: 18
Word count: 106