LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,117)
  • Text Authors (19,508)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Colley Cibber (1671 - 1757)
Translation © by Salvador Pila

The blind boy
Language: English 
Our translations:  CAT
O say! what is that thing call'd light,
Which I must ne'er enjoy?
What are the blessings of the sight?
O tell your poor blind boy!

You talk of wond'rous things you see,
You say the sun shines bright;
I feel him warm, but how can he
Or make it day or night.

My day or night myself I make,
Whene'er I sleep or play;
And could I ever keep awake,
With me 'twere always day.

With heavy sighs I often hear
You mourn my hapless woe;
But sure with patience I can bear
A loss I ne'er can know.

Then let not what I cannot have
My cheer of mind destroy;
Whilst thus I sing, I am a king,
Although a poor blind boy.

Confirmed with Specimens of the British Poets; with biographical and critical notices, and an essay on English poetry. By Thomas Campbell. In seven volumes. Vol. V. Sewell, 1726, to Carey, 1763. London: John Murray, Albemarle-Street. 1819, page 324; and with A Select Collection of English Songs. In three volumes. Volume the second. London: Printed for J. Johnson in St. Pauls Church-yard. MDCCLXXXIII. [1783], pages 104-105.


Text Authorship:

  • by Colley Cibber (1671 - 1757), "The blind boy" [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]

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

  • by William Martin Yeates Hurlstone (1876 - 1906), "The blind boy", 1906, published 1907, first performed 1906 [ voice and piano ], London, Novello: Avison Edition [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Jakob Nikolaus Craigher de Jachelutta (1797 - 1855) , "Der blinde Knabe" ; composed by Franz Peter Schubert.
      • Go to the text.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "El noi cec", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-07
Line count: 20
Word count: 125

El noi cec
Language: Catalan (Català)  after the English 
Oh, vinga, dieu-me estimats,
què és aquesta cosa que anomeneu llum?
Quines són totes les joies de veure-hi
que jo mai he conegut?

El sol que vosaltres veieu tan brillant,
per a mi, pobre noi, no llueix mai;
dieu que surt i després es pon,
però jo no sé quan ni com.

El dia i la nit me'ls faig jo mateix,
mentre dormo i jugo,
la meva vida interior em somriu esplèndida,
d'alegries en tinc moltes.

Sens dubte, no conec el que a vosaltres us fa goig,
però cap culpa m'oprimeix,
per això estic joiós en la meva sofrença
i amb paciència la suporto.

Sóc tan feliç, tan afortunat
amb el que Déu m'ha donat,
estic content com un rei, tot i que
només sóc un pobre noi cec.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2017 by Salvador Pila, (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 Colley Cibber (1671 - 1757), "The blind boy"
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2017-12-28
Line count: 20
Word count: 129

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris