Summer's Flower
Lyrics Based on Shakespeare Sonnet 94
Music by Charles Wolff
Shakespeare's Text
They that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow,
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces
And husband nature's riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.
Research Notes
My Interpretation
Musical Style Considerations
Lyrical Adaptation
Iambic Pentameter Musical Setting
Adapted Song Lyric
Summer's Flower
adaptation and music Copyright 1998 Charles Wolff
Summer's flower is for one summer sweet,
Though for herself alone she lives and dies.
But should that flower with some bad boy meet,
She could tumble faster than she realize.
For sweetest things turn wickedest by their deeds;
The fallen rose grows wilder than the weeds.
She has the power to hurt, but she won't hurt no one,
She never ever lets her feelings show.
She could steal your heart, but hers is made of stone,
Unmoved, cold and to temptation slow.
But sweetest things turn wickedest by their deeds;
And the fallen rose grows wilder than the weeds.
bridge:
She's a faithful steward of her excellence.
She's gonna hold on to her heart at all expense,
But summer's flower is for one summer sweet,
Though for herself alone she lives and dies.
And should that flower with some bad boy meet,
She could tumble faster than she realize.
For sweetest things turn wickedest by their deeds;
The fallen rose grows wilder than the weeds.
Maintained by: Charles Wolff
Last Updated: 4/9/98