Oh! Take him gently (Anonymous, set by J. Eccles) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Oh! Take him gently from the pile
And lay him here to rest, 
And I will scorch for him a while. 
If he must burn, then burn him in my breast,
For there is fire, there is flame enough to set the world on fire. 

I'm armed and declare for a vigorous war,
By my bow and my quiver I swear,
Not a rebel to love will I spare; 
This shaft I will draw to the head 
And shoot the great Persian¹ dead.

The tyrant shall die, there's one will deny him,
let him court her with crowns, she shall fly him, shall fly him, 
There's one that will fly him! 
This shaft I will draw to the head
And shoot the great archer dead.

View text without footnotes
¹ Cyrus the Great

Input by John Versmoren

Authorship

Anonymous/Unidentified Artist

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

John Eccles (1668-1735)

Cyrus the Great

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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