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by Henry King (1592 - 1669)

Farewell, fond love
Language: English 
Farewell, fond love, under whose childish whip
I have served out a weary 'prenticeship. 
Farewell, thou that hast made me thy scorned property
To dote on those that love not, and to fly 
Love that wooed me. Go, bane of my content,
And practise on some other patient. 

Farewell, false hopes that fanned my warm desire
Till it had raised a wild, unruly fire 
Which nor sighs could nor tears extinguish can. 

Although my eyes outflow the ocean. 
Forth from my thoughts forever, things of air.
Begun in error, finished in despair. 

Farewell, false world, upon whose restless stage
'Twixt love and hope I have fooled out an age.
Ere I will seek to thee for my redress 
l'll woo the wind and court the wilderness,
And buried from the day's discovery, 
Find out some slow but certain way to die. 

My woeful monument shall be my cell, 
The murmur of the purling brook my kneli; 

And for my epitaph thec rocks shall groan
Eternally. lf any ask this stone 
What wretched thing doth in this compass lie,
The hollow echo shall reply, 'Tis I.

Text Authorship:

  • by Henry King (1592 - 1669), from The Farewell, first published 1657 [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 Charles Coleman (c1605 - 1664), "Farewell, fond love", c1640-50. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: John Versmoren

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 185

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