by John Donne (1572 - 1631)
Busy old fool, unruly Sun
Language: English
[ Busy old fool, unruly Sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows, and through curtains, call on us ? Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run ? Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide Late school-boys and sour prentices, Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride, Call country ants to harvest offices ;]1 Love, all alike, no season knows [nor]2 clime, Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time. Thy beams so reverend, and strong Why shouldst thou think ? I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink, But that I would not lose her sight so long. If her eyes have not blinded thine, Look, and to-morrow late tell me, Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine Be where thou left'st them, or lie here with me. Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday, And thou shalt hear, "All here in one bed lay." She's all states, and all princes I ; Nothing else is ; Princes do but play us ; compared to this, All honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy. Thou, Sun, art half as happy as we, In that the world's contracted thus ; Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be To warm the world, that's done in warming us. Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere ; This bed thy center is, these walls thy sphere.
R. Vaughan Williams sets stanza 1
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 omitted by Vaughan Williams.
2 Vaughan Williams: "or"
Authorship:
- by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "The sun rising" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Huib Emmer (b. 1951), "The rags of time", 1989. [ sung text not verified ]
- by Elizabeth Maconchy (1907 - 1994), "The sun rising", 1965, first performed 1966. [tenor and piano] [ sung text not verified ]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Intermezzo", 1949-1952, first performed 1953, stanza 1 [soprano and orchestra], from Symphony no. 7 - Sinfonia Antartica, no. 4. [ sung text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-07-27
Line count: 30
Word count: 227