Io ti seguii come iride di pace
Lungo le vie del cielo:
Io ti seguii come un'amica face
De la notte nel velo.
E ti sentii ne la luce, ne l'aria,
Nel profumo dei fiori;
E fu piena la stanza solitaria
Di te, dei tuoi splendori.

In te rapito, al suon de la tua voce,
Lungamente sognai;
E de la terra ogni affanno, ogni croce,
In quel [sogno]1 scordai.
Torna, caro ideal, torna un istante
A sorridermi ancora,
E a me risplenderà, nel tuo sembiante,
Una novella aurora.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Tosti: "giorno" (verified by G. Miscia at the Istituto Nazionale Tostiano in Ortona, Italy, as being in the original score; with thanks to John Byrne for inquiring)

Text Authorship:

• by Carmelo Errico (1848 - 1892) [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 Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846 - 1916), "Ideale", published 1882 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (John Glenn Paton) , "Ideal", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English [singable] (Harrison Millard)
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Idéal", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Ideal", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• SPA Spanish (Español) (Danilo Serrano) , "Ideal", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 89

 I followed you like a rainbow of peace
 along the paths of heaven;
 I followed you like a friendly torch
 in the veil of darkness,
 and I sensed you in the light, in the air,
 in the perfume of flowers,
 and the solitary room was full
 of you and of your radiance.
 
 Absorbed by you, I dreamed a long time
 of the sound of your voice,
 and earth's every anxiety, every torment
 I forgot in that dream.
 Come back, dear ideal, for an instant
 to smile at me again,
 and in your face will shine for me
 a new dawn.