All the phantoms of the future, all the...

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All the phantoms of the future, all the spectres of the past,
In the wakeful night came round me sighing, crying, "Fool, beware!
Check the feeling o'er thee stealing! Let thy first love be thy last!
Or, if love again thou must, at least this fatal love forbear!"
          [Marah Amara!]1
 
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Now the dark breaks. Now the lark wakes. Now [their]2 voices fleet away.
And the breeze about the blossom, and the ripple [in]3 the reed,
And the beams, and buds, and birds begin to whisper, sing, or say,
"Love her, love her, for she loves thee!" And I know not which to heed.
          [Cara Amara!]1

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship

• by (Edward) Robert Bulwer-Lytton (1831 - 1891), "Omens and oracles", appears in Marah, London & New York: Longmans, Green and Co., pages 44-45, first published 1892 [ 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 (Mary) Frances Allitsen, née Bumpus (1848 - 1912), "Doubts", published 1905 [voice and piano], from Moods and Tenses (Phases in a Love Drama) - Cycle of Eight Songs, no. 5, London, New York: Boosey & Co. [ sung text checked 1 time]

Text added to the website: 2012-08-12.
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:05:01
Line count: 12
Word count: 108

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