by Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834)
Hypochondriacus
Language: English
By myself walking, To myself talking, When as I ruminate On my untoward fate, Scarcely seem I Alone sufficiently, Black thoughts continually Crowding my privacy. They come unbidden Like foes at a wedding Thrusting their faces In better guests' places, Peevish and malcontent, Clownish, impertinent, Dashing the merriment: So in like fashions Dim cogitations Follow and haunt me, Striving to daunt me, In my heart festering, In my ears whispering "Thy friends are treacherous, Thy foes are dangerous, Thy dreams ominous." Fierce Anthropophagi Spectra, Diaboli, What scared St Anthony, Hobgoblins, lemures, Dreams of Antipodes Night-riding incubi Troubling the fantasy, All dire illusions Causing confusions. Figments heretical, Scruples fantastical Doubts diaboilical Abandon vexeth me, Mahu perplexeth me, Lucifer teareth me - Jesu, Maria liberate nos ab his diris tentationibus Inimici!
Authorship:
- by Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834) [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 Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "Hypochondriacus", 1949, published 1949. [voice and piano] [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 42
Word count: 129