by John Donne (1572 - 1631)
Stay, O sweet, and do not rise
Language: English
Stay, O sweet, and do not rise ; The light, that shines comes from thine eyes ; The day breaks not, it is my heart, Because that you and I must part. Stay, or else my joys will die, And perish in their infancy. 'T is true, 't is day; what though it be? O wilt thou therefore rise from me? Why should we rise because 'tis light? Did we lie down because 'twas night? Love, which in spite of darkness brought us hither, Should in despite of light keep us together. Light hath no tongue, but is all eye. If it could speek as well as spy, This were the worst that it could say: - That, being well, I fain would stay, And that I lov'd my heart and honour so, That I would not from him, that had them, go. Must business thee from hence remove? Oh, that's the worse disease of love! The poor, the fool, the false, love can Admit, but not the busied man. He, which hath business, and makes love, doth do Such wrong, as when a married man doth woo.
V. Fine sets stanza 1
M. Emery sets stanza 1
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "Break of Day" [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 Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "Stay o sweet", published 1948, from Three Elizabethan Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979), "Daybreak", >>1940 [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Corkine (flourished 1610-2), "Break of day" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Malcolm Gordon Davidson (1891 - 1949), "Stay o sweet", published 1923 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Matthew Emery (b. 1991), "Stay o sweet and do not rise", 2012, stanza 1 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Vivian Fine (1913 - 2000), "Daybreak", 1937-8, first performed 1941, stanza 1 [ soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Four Elizabethan Songs, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Eleanor Everest Freer (1864 - 1942), "Daybreak", op. 4 no. 7, published 1905 [ voice and piano ], from A Book of Songs, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Elena Langer , "Stay O sweet", 2013 [ soprano and piano or oboe and harpsichord ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Harl McDonald (1899 - 1955), "Break of day", published 1939 [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Daybreak", op. 209 (1948) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michael John Trotta (b. 1978), "Break of day", published 2013 [ SATB chorus, piano, and English horn or oboe ], Carl Fischer [sung text not yet checked]
- by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "Break of day", 1918, lost [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, [adaptation] ; composed by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist, Judith Cloud, John Dowland, Henry Lawes, Michael Ostrzyga.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-07-26
Line count: 24
Word count: 185