Frederick William Clarke: Ten songs (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


There be none of Beauty's daughters
  With a magic like thee;
And like music on the waters
  Is thy sweet voice to me:
When, as if its sound were causing
The charmèd ocean's pausing,
The waves lie still and gleaming,
And the lull'd winds seem dreaming:

And the midnight moon is weaving
  Her bright chain o'er the deep;
Whose breast is gently heaving
  As an infant's asleep:
So the spirit bows before thee,
To listen and adore thee;
With a full but soft emotion,
Like the swell of Summer's ocean.

?. Bright be the place of thy soul!

Language: English

Authorship

George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788-1824)

Hebrew Melodies

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Bright be the place of thy soul!
  No lovelier spirit than thine
E'er burst from its mortal control,
  In the orbs of the blessed to shine.
On earth thou wert all but divine,
  As thy soul shall immortally be:
And our sorrow may cease to repine,
  When we know that thy God is with thee.
When we know that thy God is with thee.
  Bright be the place of thy soul,
  No lovelier spirit than thine
  E'er burst from its mortal control,
  In the orbs of the blessed to shine.

Light be the turf of thy tomb!
  May its verdure like emeralds be:
There should not be the shadow of gloom
  In aught that reminds us of thee.
Young flowers and an evergreen tree
  May spring from the spot of thy rest;
But not cypress nor yew let us see,
  For why should we mourn for the Blest?
For why should we mourn for the blest?
  Bright be the place of thy soul,
  No lovelier spirit than thine
  E'er burst from its mortal control,
  In the orbs of the blessed to shine.

First published in Examiner, June 1815, titled "Stanzas" and signed B---n; revised 1816.

?. Farewell! if ever fondest prayer

Language: English

Authorship

George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788-1824)

The Corsair

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Farewell! if ever fondest prayer
  For other's weal availed on high,
Mine will not all be lost in air,
  But waft thy name beyond the sky.
'Twere vain to speak, to weep, to sigh:
  Oh! more than tears of blood can tell,
When wrung from guilt's expiring eye,
  Are in that word - Farewell! - Farewell!

These lips are mute, these eyes are dry;
  But in my breast and in my brain,
Awake the pangs that pass not by,
  The thought that ne'er shall sleep again.
My soul nor deigns nor dares complain,
  Though grief and passion there rebel:
I only know we loved in vain -
  I only feel - Farewell! - Farewell!