George Whitefield Chadwick: Two songs (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Up to her chamber window,
A slight wire trellis goes,
And up this Romeo's ladder
Clambers a bold white rose.

I lounge in the ilex shadows,
I see the lady lean,
Unclasping her silken girdle,
The curtain's folds between.

She smiles on her white-rose lover,
She reaches out her hand
And helps him in at the window --
I see it [where]¹ I stand!

To her scarlet [lip]² she holds him,
And kisses him many a time.
Ah me! it was he that won her
Because he dared to climb!

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¹ Chadwick: "when"
² Chadwick: "lips"

2. Song from the Persian

Language: English

Authorship

Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907)

Poems

Two Songs from the Persian

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O sad are they who know not love
But far from passions tears and smiles
Drift down a moonless sea
Beyond the silvery coasts of fairy Isles.
And sadder they whose longing lips
Kiss empty air and never touch
The dear warm mouth of those they love
Waiting, wasting, suffering much
But clear as amber, fine as musk
Is life to those who pilgrim-wise
Move hand in hand 
From dawn to dusk
Each morning nearer Paradise.
O not for them shall angels pray;
They stand in everlasting light -
They walk in Allah's smile by day
And nestle in his heart by night.