Fain would I change that note

Fain would I change that note
To which fond Love hath charm'd me
Long, long to sing by rote,
Fancying that that harm'd me:
Yet when this thought doth come
'Love is the perfect sum
Of all delight!'
I have no other choice
Either for pen or voice
To sing or write.

O Love! they wrong thee much
That say thy [fruit]1 is bitter,
When thy rich fruit is such
As nothing can be sweeter.
Fair house of joy and bliss,
Where truest pleasure is,
I do adore thee:
I know thee what thou art,
I serve thee with my heart,
And fall before thee.

sometimes misattributed to Tobias Hume (c1569-1645)

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

by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889-1960) , "Devotion" [satb]
by Roger Quilter (1877-1953) , "Fair house of joy", op. 12 no. 7, from Seven Elizabethan Lyrics, no. 7.
by William Walton (1902-1983) , "Fain would I change that note", from Anon. in Love, no. 1.

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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