Come live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That [hills and valleys, dale and field]1,
[And all the craggy mountains yield]2.

[There will we]3 sit upon the rocks
[And see]4 the shepherds feed their flocks,
[By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals]5.6

There will I make thee beds of roses
[And]7 a thousand fragrant posies,
[A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle.]5

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull,
Fair linèd slippers for the cold,
[With]8 buckles of the purest gold.

A [belt]9 of straw and ivy buds
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my Love.

Thy silver dishes for thy meat
As precious as the gods do eat,
Shall on an ivory table be
Prepared each day for thee and me.

[The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning:]5
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my Love.

W. Bennett sets stanzas 1-3, 7
H. Bishop sets stanzas 1-2, 7
W. Mayer sets stanzas 1-2, 7
J. von Dalberg sets stanzas 1, 2, 7

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with The Golden Treasury, Francis T. Palgrave, ed., 1875.

See Raleigh's famous response, The nymph's reply to the shepherd.

See also the parody by Archibald Stodart-Walker.

¹ Bennett, Bishop, Goldmark: "hill and valley, dale and field" ; Mayer: "valleys, groves, hills, and fields"
² Mayer: "Woods, or steepy mountain yields"
³ Goldmark: "There we shall"; Mayer: "And we will"
⁴ Goldmark: "And watch"; Mayer: "Seeing"
⁵ omitted by Bishop.
⁶ Bennett adds "And if these pleasures may thee move,/ Then live with me and be my love." (from later in the poem)
⁷ Bennett, Bishop: "With"
⁸ Goldmark: "And"
⁹ Goldmark: "bed"

Text Authorship:

• by Christopher Marlowe (1564 - 1593), "The passionate shepherd to his love", written 1580-1592? [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 Sterndale Bennett (1816 - 1875), "Come live with me", 1846, stanzas 1-3,7 [ chorus ], partsong [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Henry Rowley Bishop (1785 - 1855), "Come live with me", stanzas 1-2,7 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Alan Bullard (b. 1947), "Come live with me and be my love", 1981 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Johann Friedrich Hugo, Freiherr von Dalberg (1760 - 1812), "Come Live with Me and Be My Love", op. 15 no. 2, stanzas 1,2,7, from Three English Songs and a Glee with an Accompaniment for the Pianoforte, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Rubin Goldmark (1872 - 1936), "The passionate shepherd to his love" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by William Mayer (b. 1925), "The passionate shepherd to his love", stanzas 1-2,7 [ satb chorus a cappella ], from Four Madrigals, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Norman Houston O'Neill (1875 - 1934), "Come live with me and be my Love" [ voice and orchestra ], from Shakespeare Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Myron Silberstein (b. 1975), "Come Live With Me and Be My Love", 2016, from No Life But This, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mabel Nightingale Woodward (1876 - 1911), "The passionate shepherd to his love", published 1912 [ voice and piano ], from Songs, no. 12, Birmingham : Press of the Birmingham Printers [sung text not yet checked]

Set in a modified version by Vivian Fine, Ernest John Moeran, Peter Warlock, Samuel Webbe.

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Another version of this text exists in the database.

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Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in English, adapted by Cecil Day Lewis (1904 - 1972) , "Come, live with me and be my love", a parody [an adaptation] ; composed by Edward Gregson.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , "Der feurige Schäfer zu seiner Liebsten", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Adolf von Marées) , "Der Schäfer an sein Lieb"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 199

Komm, leb' mit mir und werde mein
und alle Freud' wird unser sein,
die Täler, Hügel, Wald und Feld
und steiler Berg bereit uns hält.

Am Felsen sitzend schauen wir
der Schäfer Herden, weidend hier
am sanftem Fluß, zu dessen Fall
Singvögel zirpen Madrigal.

Und ich mach' Dir ein Bett von Rosen
mit duftenden Bouquets zum Kosen,
die Blumenhaub', der Rock zum Gürten
bedeckt mit Stickerei von Myrthen;

Gewand aus feinster Woll' gemacht,
von hübschen Lämmern dargebracht;
verbrämte Schühlein, warm und hold,
mit Spangen aus dem reinsten Gold;

ein Gurt von Stroh und Efeuzweig,
an Bernstein und Korallen reich:
Wenn diese Gaben Dich erfreu'n,
dann leb' mit mir und werde mein!






Der Schäfer Tanz vertreibt Dir Sorgen
und freut im Mai Dich jeden Morgen:
Soll solche Freud' Dein eigen sein,
dann leb' mit mir und werde mein!