The devout lover (Pollock, set by M. White) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


 It is not mine to sing the stately grace,
 The great soul beaming in my lady's face,
 To write no sounding odes to me is given,
 Wherein her eyes outshine the stars in heaven.

 Not mine in flowing melodies to tell
 The thousand beauties that I know so well,
 Not mine to serenade her ev'ry tress
 And sit and sigh my love in idleness.

 But mine it is to follow in her train,
 Do her behests in pleasure or in pain
 Burn at her altar love's sweet frankincense
 And worship her in distant reverence.

Authorship

Walter Herries Pollock (1850-1926)

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

Maude Valérie White (1855-1937)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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