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Garden of Earthly Delights Lyrics

And would you see my lady's face?
It is a flowery garden place,
Where knots of beauty have such grace
That all is work and nowhere space

It is a sweet delicious morn
Where day is breeding, never born
It is a meadow yet unshorn
Which thousand flowers do adorn

It is the heavens' bright reflex
Weak eyes to dazzle and to vex
It is the idea of her sex
Whose envy does the world perplex

It is a sweet delicious morn
Where day is breeding, never born
It is a meadow yet unshorn
Which thousand flowers do adorn

It is the outward face of youth
It is the famed Elysium's truth
The spring that winter'd hearts renews
And this is that my soul pursues
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Submitted by
professorknowitall On Apr 20, 2016
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Cover art for Garden of Earthly Delights lyrics by Uriel

The lyrics are adapted from a Renaissance poem, "And Would You See My Mistress' Face" by Thomas Campion (who willed his estate to Phillip Rosseter, which is why his name appears on some credits). The music is adapted from a song by British composer Martin Shaw (though I'm not sure which one.)

Comparing it to the original text (http://www.poetrynook.com/poem/and-would-you-see-my-mistress-face), there's four minor differences probably done for flow (changing "mistress'" to "lady's", and rearranging "envy of whom" to "whose envy", the "reneweth/pursueth" couplet at the end is changed to "renews/pursues"), and two major ones:

-The song drops the fourth stanza about "It is the face of death that smiles," and given how much they go for an eerie atmosphere with the interludes and the minor-key outro it's odd that they drop the most macabre verse. -"It is fair beauty's freshest youth" is changed to "It is the outward face of youth".

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