by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
The shepherd
Language: English
No more the festive Train I'll join, Adieu! ye rural sports adieu! For what alas have griefs like mine, With pastimes or deights to do? Let hearts at ease such pleasures prove, But I am all despair and love. A well a day! how chang'd am I? When late I seiz'd the rural reed; So soft my strains, the herds hard by, Stood gazing, and forgot to feed. But now my strains no longer move They're discord all, despair, and love. Behold around my straggling sheep The fairest once upon the lea; No swain to guide, no dog to keep, Unshorn they stray, nor mark'd by me. The shepherds muse to see them rove, They ask the cause, I answer Love. Neglected love first taught my eyes, With tears of anguish to o'erflow; 'Twas that which fill'd my breast with sighs, And tun'd my pipe to notes of woe. Love has occasion'd all my smart, Dispers'd my flock, and broke my heart.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked 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 Thomas Augustine Arne (1710 - 1778), "The shepherd" [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 162