The Phantom-Wooer (Beddoes, set by B. Holmes, H. Brian, W. Hurlstone) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


A ghost, that loved a lady fair,
Ever in the starry air
    Of midnight at her pillow stood;
And, with a sweetness skies above
The luring words of human love
    Her soul the phantom wooed.
Sweet and sweet is their poisoned note,
The little snakes of silver throat,
In mossy skulls that nest and lie,
Ever singing, 'die, oh! die.'

Young soul, put off your flesh, and come
With me into the quiet tomb,
    Our bed is lovely, dark, and sweet;
The earth will swing us, as she goes,
Beneath our coverlid of snows,
    And the warm leaden sheet.
Dear and dear is their poisoned note,
The little snakes of silver throat,
In mossy skulls that nest and lie,
Ever singing, 'die, oh! die.'

Input by Brian Holmes

Authorship

Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803-1849)

The Poems Posthumous and Collected of Thomas Lovell Beddoes

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

(William) Havergal Brian (1876-1972)

Brian Holmes (1946-)

Death's Jest-Book

William Martin Yeates Hurlstone (1876-1906)

Date added to the website: 2004-03-26.

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