I prithee send me back my heart

General information

Lyricist: John Suckling

Settings by composers

• Charles King Hall ATBB
• Henry Thomas Smart SATB ((vv. 1-3 & 5)
• John S. Wilson SATB (vv. 1 & 3-5)

Texts and Translations

English text

1  I prithee send me back my heart,
Since I cannot have thine;
For if from yours you will not part,
Why, then, shouldst thou have mine?

2  Yet now I think on't, let it lie,
To find it were in vain;
For thou'st a thief in either eye
Would steal it back again.

3  Why should two hearts in one breast lie,
And yet not lodge together?
O Love! where is thy sympathy,
If thus our breasts thou sever?

4  But love is such a mystery,
I cannot find it out;
For when I think I'm best resolved,
I then am in most doubt.

5  Then farewell care, and farewell woe;
I will no longer pine;
For I'll believe I have her heart,
As much as she hath mine.