O daughter of Nereus old

O daughter of Nereus old,
Queen of the nymphs that swim 
By day in gleams of gold, 
By night in the silver dim, 
Forgive in pity, we pray. 
Forgive the ill we have done. 
Why didst thou hide this thing from us ? 
For if we had known thy son 
We had guarded him well to-day. 
Nor ever betrayed him thus. 
For though we may not ride
Thy tall sea-horses nor play 
In the rainbow-tinted spray. 
Nor dive down under the tide 
To the secret caves of the main. 
Among thy laughing train ; 
Yet had we served thee well as they. 
Had we thy secret shared : 
Nor ever had lost from garden and hall 
Pyrrha the golden-haired, 
Pyrrha beloved of all.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship

• by Robert Seymour Bridges (1844 - 1930), no title, appears in Achilles in Scyros, first published 1890 [ author's text checked 1 time]

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

• by Cyril Bradley Rootham (1875 - 1938), "O daughter of Nereus old", published 1912 [soprano, alto, and SA chorus a cappella], from The Choruses from "Achilles in Scyros", no. 2, note: originally composed for strings and harp - not published [
   text not verified 
  ]

Text added to the website: 2009-01-17.
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:03:04
Line count: 21
Word count: 123

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