Weep you no more, sad fountains;
  What need [you]1 flow so fast?
Look how the snowy mountains
  Heaven's sun doth gently waste!
    But my sun's heavenly eyes
      View not your weeping,
      That now lies sleeping,
    [Softly now, softly]2 lies
        Sleeping.

Sleep is a reconciling,
  A rest that peace begets;
Doth not the sun rise smiling
  When fair at [e'en]3 he sets?
    Rest you, then, rest, sad eyes!
      Melt not in weeping,
      While she lies sleeping,
    [Softly now, softly]2 lies
        Sleeping.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ van Dieren: "ye"
² van Dieren, Holst, Moeran: "Softly, now softly"
³ Parry: "eve"; Moeran, Quilter, van Dieren: "even"; Holst: "ev'n"

Authorship

• by Anonymous / Unidentified Author ( 16^th century )  [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 Seymour Barab (1921 - 2014), "Weep you no more, sad fountains ", copyright © 1988 [ soprano or tenor, violin, cello, and harpsichord or piano ], from Airs and Fancies, no. 3, New York : Galaxy Music : Contemporary Art Song Series [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert Fairfax Birch (b. 1917), "Weep you no more" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "Weep you No More Sad Fountains", 1944 [ baritone and piano ], from Five Spring Songs, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979), "Weep you no more, sad fountains", 1912?, published 2001 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Bernard van Dieren (1887 - 1936), "Weep you no more sad fountains", published 1925 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Dowland (1562 - 1626), "Weep you no more, sad fountains", published 1603, from The Third and Last Book of Songs or Airs [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Edmunds (1913 - 1986), "Weep you no more, sad fountains", 1938 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Helen Fothergill (d. 1939), "Weep you no more", published c1920, Augener [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "Weep you no more, sad fountains", op. 150 no. 3 (1980) [ high voice, oboe, and piano ], from Hebdomade, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "Tears", from Five Elizabethan Songs (The Elizas), no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934), "Weep you no more", op. 16 no. 3, from Six Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "Weep you no more, sad fountains ", R. 20 (1922) [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "Weep you no more, sad fountains ", R. 20a (1934) [ 2-part chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "Weep you no more", 1895-6, published 1896, from English Lyrics, Fourth Set, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "Weep you no more", op. 12 no. 1 (1907), published 1908 [ voice and piano ], from Seven Elizabethan Lyrics, no. 1, London, Boosey [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "Weep you no more", 1938, published 1939 [ vocal duet for soprano and alto with piano ], London, Boosey [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ida Goldschmidt, née Livingston (1863 - 1933) ; composed by Roger Quilter.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    

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

• GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Hamann) , "Tränen", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 80