by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Cantata II: Tell me, ye brooks
Language: English 
Tell me, ye brooks, where can my darling hide?
O! lead me to him, as ye gently glide.
In yon dark bower does he soft-slumb'ring lay,
And there the tribute to your murmurs pay?

In vain, to find him I implore your aid,
And tell my longings to your bending shade;
His deep-hid covert you must ne'er disclose,
Whence now he spies me, and derides my woes.

When night draws off, from me the charmer flies;
In vain I call him, still he mocks my sighs;
He flies! At random I these words employ:
My soul's delight may be a wingless boy.

Fruitless for him your mossy banks I trace,
And sweetly tortured, rove from place to place.
In grotts alone, he's kind as Love can be.
Thus, what I doat on, I must never see.

Notes
Stanza 3, line 4, word 7: In the album 'The Mad Lover' by Evelyn Tubb and Frances Kelly, this is "wingèd", however the word "wingless" appears in Boyce's score and also in sources that quote the poem, such as The Loves of Cupid and Psyche: In Verse and Prose. From the French of La Fontaine... The whole illustrated with NOTES. By Mr. Lockman, London, H. Chapelle, 1744, pages 156-157.
Stanza 4, line 4, word 4: the modern spelling of "doat" is "dote".


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):


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 136