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possibly by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

On a day, alack the day!
Language: English 
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."

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   W. Jackson 

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

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