This edition was prepared by James Gibb — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
Fair, if you expect admiring
Staff Notation • Secular, Madrigals
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Fair, if you expect admiring by Thomas Campion — Lyrics
Fair, if you expect admiring,
Sweet, if you provoke desiring,
Grace dear love with kind requiting.
Fond, but if thy light be blindness,
Fair, if thou affect unkindness,
Fly, both love and love's delighting.
Then, when hope is lost and love is scorned,
I'll bury my desires, and quench the fires that ever yet in vain have burned.
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About Fair, if you expect admiring
Thomas Campion's Fair, if you expect admiring is a secular song for a solo voice. The text explores the complex emotions of a lover seeking requital. It begins with a conditional appeal, suggesting that if admiration and desire are met with kindness, love will flourish. However, it quickly turns to a darker possibility: if love is met with unkindness, then both love and its delights will be abandoned. The second stanza addresses fate, stars, and time, pleading for relief from endless sorrow and dashed hopes. Ultimately, if griefs remain unredressed, the speaker resolves to return to the beloved, hoping for renewed hope through pity.
