Song | Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er

Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er

Language: English

"Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
  Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking;
Dream of battled fields no more,
  Days of danger, nights of waking. 
In our isle's enchanted hall,
  Hands unseen thy couch are strewing,
Fairy strains of music fall,
  Every sense in slumber dewing. 
Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Dream of fighting fields no more;
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Morn of toil, nor night of waking. 

"No rude sound shall reach thine ear,
  Armour's clang, or war-steed champing,
Trump nor pibroch summon here
  Mustering clan, or squadron tramping. 
Yet the lark's shrill fife may come
  At the day-break from the fallow,
And the bittern sound his drum,
  Booming from the sedgy shallow.
Ruder sounds shall none be near,
Guards nor warders challenge here,
Here's no war-steed's neigh and champing,
Shouting clans or squadrons stamping." -

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The Lady of the Lake. A Poem. By Walter Scott, Esq. The fourth edition. Edinburgh: Printed for John Ballantyne and Co. Edinburgh; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, and W. Miller, London. 1810, pages 38-39.

Text Authorship:

by Walter Scott, Sir (1771 - 1832), "Song", appears in The Lady of the Lake, in 1. Canto First. The Chase., no. 31, first published 1810 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Oliver Arthur King (1855 - 1923), "Soldier, rest", op. 54 no. 4, published 1892 [ men's chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Adam Storck (1780 - 1822) , "Sang", appears in Das Fräulein vom See, in 1. Erster Gesang. Die Jagd., first published 1819 ; composed by Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Peter Schubert.

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

ENG English [an adaptation]

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

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-07
Line count: 24
Word count: 138