Forget not the field (Moore) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Forget not the field where they perished,
   The truest, the last of the brave,
 All gone--and the bright hope we cherished
   Gone with them, and quenched in their grave!

 Oh! could we from death but recover
   Those hearts as they bounded before,
 In the face of high heaven to fight over
   That combat for freedom once more;--

 Could the chain for an instant be riven
   Which Tyranny flung round us then,
 No, 'tis not in Man, nor in Heaven,
   To let Tyranny bind it again!

 But 'tis past--and, tho' blazoned in story
   The name of our Victor may be,
 Accurst is the march of that glory
   Which treads o'er the hearts of the free.

 Far dearer the grave or the prison,
   Illumed by one patriot name,
 Than the trophies of all, who have risen
   On Liberty's ruins to fame.

Authorship

Thomas Moore (1779-1852)

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

[ None yet in the database ]

Set in French, adapted by Thomas Gounet (1801-1869) FRE

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)

Irlande

Date added to the website: 2003-11-03.

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