by
Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
Strathallan's lament
Language: English
Available translation(s): FRE
Thickest night surround my dwelling!
Howling tempests o'er me rave!
Turbid torrents, wintry swelling,
Roaring by my lonely cave.
Chrystal streamlets gently flowing,
Busy haunts of base mankind,
Western breezes softly blowing,
Suit not my distracted mind.
In the cause of right engaged,
Wrongs injurious to redress,
Honour's war we strongly waged,
But the Heavens deny'd success.
Ruin's wheel has driven o'er us :
Not a hope that dare attend,
The wide world is all before us,
But a world without a friend.
Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 205.
Note: Viscount Strathallan was killed in the Battle of Culloden
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , title 1: "La lamentation de Strathallan", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani , Pierre Mathé
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2009-09-02
Line count: 16
Word count: 83
La lamentation de Strathallan
Language: French (Français)  after the English
La nuit la plus épaisse entoure ma demeure !
Des tempêtes hurlantes font rage au-dessus de moi !
De troubles torrents, des houles d'hiver
Rugissent près de mon antre solitaire.
Des ruisseaux cristallins coulant gentiment,
Les endroit agités que fréquente l'humanité,
Les brises d'ouest soufflant doucement
Ne conviennent pas à mes préoccupations.
Engagé pour la cause du droit,
À redresser d'injustes torts,
Nous nous sommes engagés dans une honorable guerre,
Mais le ciel nous a refusé le succès.
La roue de la ruine est passée sur nous :
Plus aucune espérance ne nous accompagne,
Le vaste monde est tout entier devant nous,
Mais un monde sans aucun ami.
Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2014 by Pierre Mathé, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Strathallan's lament"
This text was added to the website: 2014-11-25
Line count: 16
Word count: 108