Stay, sweet love (Anonymous, set by W. Walton) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


O stay, sweet love; see here the place of sporting;
These gentle flowers smile sweetly to invite us,
And chirping birds are hitherward resorting,
Warbling sweet notes only to delight us:

Then stay, dear love, for, tho' thou run from me,
Run ne'er so fast, run ne'er so fast, yet I will follow thee.

I thought, my love, that I should overtake you;
Sweet heart, sit down under this shadow'd tree,
And I, I will promise never, never, to forsake you,
So you will grant to me a lover's fee.

Whereat she smiled, and kindly to me said -
I never meant, I never meant, I never meant,
I never meant to live and die a maid,
I never meant to live and die a maid.

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)

William Walton (1902-1983)

Anon. in Love

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

Gentle Reminder

This project is not funded. If you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your gift is greatly appreciated!
- Emily

I also have a wishlist at Amazon.ca.