I rise and grieve (Anonymous, set by H. Lawes) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


I rise and grieve, 
    I walk and see my sorrow,
I eat, I live 
    Perchance not till tomorrow. 
I lay me down to rest and then again
I rise, I walk, I feed and lie in pain.
Mend thou my state 
    O Jove, I thee implore,
Or end by fate 
    What thou hast made before. 

If I but close 
    The covers of my sight,
Then slumb'ring woes 
    With dreams my sleeps affright; 
And if awake I seek to ease my mind, 
Some new-bred cares my troubled thoughts do find.
    Mend thou my state 
O Jove, I thee implore,
    Or end by fate 
What thou hast made before. 

Or if it be 
    Thy will I should endure
What unto me 
    Is almost past recure, 
Give me but strength to undergo those pains
Which like a torrent run through all my veins;
Or mend my state 
    Which as my days do fade;
Or end by fate 
    What thou before hast made.

Input by John Versmoren

Authorship

Anonymous/Unidentified Artist

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

Henry Lawes (c1595-1662)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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