Sabbath Morning at Sea (Browning, set by E. Elgar) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


The ship went on with solemn face;
To meet the darkness on the deep,
The solemn ship went onward.
I bowed down weary in the place;
for parting tears and present sleep
Had weighed mine eyelids downward.

The new sight, the new wondrous sight!
The waters around me, turbulent,
The skies, impassive o'er me,
Calm in a moonless, sunless light,
As glorified by even the intent
Of holding the day glory!

Love me, sweet friends, this sabbath day.
The sea sings round me while ye roll afar
The hymn, unaltered,
And kneel, where once I knelt to pray,
And bless me deeper in your soul
Because your voice has faltered.

And though this sabbath comes to me
Without the stolèd minister,
And chanting congregation,
God's Spirit shall give comfort. 
He who brooded soft on waters drear,
Creator on creation.

He shall assist me to look higher,
	He shall assist me to look higher,
Where keep the saints, with harp and song,
An endless endless sabbath morning,
	An endless sabbath morning,
And on that sea commixed with fire,
	On that sea commixed with fire,
Oft drop their eyelids raised too long
To the full Godhead's burning.
	The full Godhead's burning.

Authorship

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

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

Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Sea Pictures

Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

GER

German

GER

German

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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