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by John Donne (1572 - 1631)

To ask for all thy love
Language: English 
To ask for all thy love, and thy whole heart
'twere madness,
I do not sue,
nor can admit
fairest from you
to have all, yet
who gieth all hath nothing to impart,
but sadness

He that receiveth all, can have no more
than seeing.
My love by length
of every hour,
gathers new strength,
new growth, new flow'r.
You must have daily new rewards in store,
still being.

You cannot every day give me your heart
for merit:
Yet if you will,
when yours doth go,
you shall have still
one to bestow:
For you shall mine when yours doth hence depart
inherit.

Yet if you please, I'll find a better way.
Than change them: 
For so alone
Dearest we shall
be one and one,
another's all.
Let us so join our hearts that nothing may
estrange them.

Text Authorship:

  • by John Donne (1572 - 1631) [author's text not yet checked 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 John Dowland (1562 - 1626), "To ask for all thy love" [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "To Ask For All Thy Love", op. 423 (1954) [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Peter Donderwinkel

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 139

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