Like as the Culver (Spenser, set by M. Greene) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


 Like as the Culver on the bared bough, 
 Sits mourning for the absence of her mate,
 And in her songs sends many a wishfull vow
 For his return that seems to linger late,

 So I alone. now left, disconsolate, 
 Mourne to my self the absence of my love:
 And wandring here and there all desolate, 
 Seeke with my Plaints to match that mournfull Dove.
 Ne joy of ought that under heaven doth hove
 Can comfort me, but her own joyous sight: 
 Whose sweet aspect both God and man can move,
 In her unspotted pleasauns to delight.

 Darke is my day, whiles her faire light I mis.
 And Dead my life that wants such lively blis.

Input by John Versmoren

Authorship

Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)

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

Maurice Greene (1696-1755)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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