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Text
By a fountainside
source:
Ben Jonson
Slow, slow, fresh fount, keep time with my salt tears:
Yet slower, yet; O faintly, gentle springs:
List to the heavy part the music bears,
Woe weeps out her [division]2 when she sings.
Droop herbs and flowers,
Fall grief in showers,
Our beauties are not ours;
Or I could still
Like melting snow upon some craggy hill,
Drop, drop, drop, drop,
Since nature's pride is, now, a withered daffodil.
Yet slower, yet; O faintly, gentle springs:
List to the heavy part the music bears,
Woe weeps out her [division]2 when she sings.
Droop herbs and flowers,
Fall grief in showers,
Our beauties are not ours;
Or I could still
Like melting snow upon some craggy hill,
Drop, drop, drop, drop,
Since nature's pride is, now, a withered daffodil.
Composer
Roger Quilter
Roger Cuthbert Quilter was an English composer, known particularly for his songs.