An allusion to Lamentations 1:12 (“Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow….”), “Have, Have Ye No Regard” is a setting for solo baritone, SATB voices, and organ of Robert Herrick’s poem, “His Saviour’s Words, Going to the Cross.”
Herrick (1591-1674) was an Anglican priest and lyric poet who is perhaps best known for the admonition, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,” which is the opening line to his poem, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.”
Herrick’s lyric poetry was not greatly popular at the time of publication. His style, influenced by Ben Jonson, the classical Roman writers, and the late Elizabethan era, might have seemed quaint in comparison to the complex musings of the metaphysical poets of the time, such as John Donne and Andrew Marvell. However, his work was rediscovered in the early 19th century and has not only been reprinted many times over, but has also been used as the subject of numerous musical settings by composers including Arnold Bax, Benjamin Britten, Frederick Delius, Herbert Howells, Hubert Parry, C.V. Stanford, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
“Have, have ye no regard, all ye
Who pass this way, to pity Me,
Who am a man of misery?
A man both bruis’d and broke, and one
Who suffers not here for Mine own,
But for My friends’ transgression!
“Ah, Sion’s daughters, do not fear
The Cross, the Cords, the Nails, the Spear,
The Myrrh, the Gall, the Vinegar,
For Christ, your loving Saviour, hath
Drunk up the wine of God’s fierce wrath;
Only there’s left a little froth,
“Less for to taste than for to show
What bitter cups had been your due,
Had he not drank them up for you.”
SATB/organ score (4 pages, 8.5×11″)
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