How long shall this (Spenser, set by M. Greene) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


 How long shall this like dying life endure,
 And know no end of her own miserie? 
 But waste and weare away in termes unsure.
 Twixt feare and hope depending doubtfully:
 Yet better were att once to let me die, 
 And shew the last ensample of your pride
 Then to torment me thus with crueltie, 
 To prove your powre, which I too well have tride. 

 But yet if in your hardned brest ye hide
 A close intent at last to shew me grace, 
 Then all the woes and wrecks which I abide,
 As meanes of blis I gladly will embrace, 
 And wish that more and greater they might be.
 That greater meed at last may turne to me.

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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