Ballad (Dunbar, set by S. Coleridge-Taylor) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


I know my love is true,
  And oh the day is fair.
The sky is clear and blue,
The flowers are rich of hue,
  The air I breathe is rare,
  I have no grief or care;
For my own love is true,
  And oh 'the day is fair.

My love is false I find,
  And oh the day is dark.
Blows sadly down the wind,
While sorrow holds my mind;
  I do not hear the lark,
  For quenched is life's dear spark, -- 
My love is false I find,
  And oh the day is dark!

For love doth make the day
  Or dark or doubly bright;
Her beams along the way
Dispel the gloom and gray.
  She lives and all is bright,
  She dies and life is night.
For love doth make the day,
 Or dark or doubly bright.

Authorship

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

Majors and Minors

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

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

African Romances

Date added to the website: 2008-07-27.

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