Advice to Virgins
by Robert Herrick (1648)
as set to music by Leonard Lehrman, op.35 #2 (Apr.-May 1978)
for Voice and Harp (prem. Ithaca NY 2/26/79)
or Mandolin & Continuo (prem. Steinway, N.Y.City 3/11/79)
or Harpsichord or Piano
prem. together with op. 35 #1 (Why So Pale and Wan)
by Charles Osborne & Leonard Lehrman, Heidelberg 5/13/80;
also perf. Cologne Spr. 1984; Chelsea Center (LICA) 5/22/938

recorded on Capstone #CPS-8647: Helene Williams sings Songs of Love
posted online:

sung by Helene Williams, accompanied by Leonard Lehrman, New York (1995)



To the Virgins, to make much of Time

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a getting,
The sooner will his Race be run,
And nearer he's to Setting.

[That Age is best which is the first,
When Youth and Blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times, still succeed the former.]

Then be not coy, but use your Time,
And while ye may, goe marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.