A spirit pass'd before me

A spirit pass'd before me: I beheld 
The face of immortality unveil'd -- 
Deep sleep came down on every eye save mine -- 
And there it stood, -- all formless -- but divine; 
Along my bones the creeping flesh did quake; 
And as my damp hair stiffen'd, thus it spake: 

'Is man more just that God? Is man more pure 
Than he who deems even Seraphs insecure? 
Creatures of clay -- vain dwellers in the dust! 
The moth survives you, and are ye more just? 
Things of day! you wither ere the night, 
Heedless and blind to Wisdom's wasted light!'

by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788-1824) , "A spirit pass'd before me", from Hebrew Melodies, no. 28, published 1815 [an adaptation]

a text in Latin by Bible or other Sacred Texts , Job 4

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

by Milton Barnes , "A spirit pass'd before me", 1958. [high voice and piano]
by William Richard Bexfield (1824-1853) , "A spirit pass'd before me", op. 4 no. ?, published 1848 [bass and piano], from Musica di Camera, no. ?
by Harry Collings Deacon (1822-1890) , "A spirit pass'd before me", published 1855. [low voice and piano]
by Arthur H. Gutman , "A spirit pass'd before me", published 1940. [voice and piano]
by Clarence S. Hill , "A spirit pass'd before me", published 1911. [voice and piano]
by Isaac Nathan (1790-1864) , "A spirit pass'd before me" [voice and piano], from A Selection of Hebrew Melodies No. I, no. 28.
by Howard D. Salins , "A spirit pass'd before me", published 1906. [voice and piano]

by Johann Karl Gottfried Loewe (1796-1869) , "Eliphas' Gesicht", op. 14 (Hebräische Gesänge) no. 2 (1826), published 1827.

Date added to the website: 2003-11-13.

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