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He came like a dream in the dawn of life, [He]1 fled like a shadow before its noon; He is gone, and [my]2 peace is turned to strife, And I wander and wane like the weary moon. O, sweet Echo, wake, And for my sake Make answer the while my heart shall break! But my heart has a music which Echo's lips, Though tender and true, yet can answer not, And the shadow that moves in the soul's eclipse Can return not the kiss by his now forgot; Sweet lips! he who hath On my desolate path Cast the darkness of absence, worse than death!
H. McDonald sets stanza 1
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesConfirmed with Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, with His Life, vol. 1, London: John Ascham, 1834, page 86.
1 McDonald: "and he"2 McDonald: "all my"
Text Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), no title, appears in Fragments of an Unfinished Drama [author's text checked 2 times 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 Frank Austin , "Fragments of an unfinished drama", published 1883 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Harl McDonald (1899 - 1955), "He is gone", published 1945, stanza 1 [ voice and piano ], Philadelphia: Elkan-Vogel Co. [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Frammenti di un dramma incompiuto", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2005-01-27
Line count: 14
Word count: 107
Venne come un sogno all'alba della vita Si dileguò come un'ombra prima del meriggio; E' andato via, e la mia pace si è fatta tormento Ed io declino come luna al tramonto. O, dolce Eco, destati e per amor mio dai una risposta al cuore mio che si spezza! Ma il mio cuore ha una musica cui le labbra di Eco, pure se dolci e sincere, non possono dare risposta, e l'ombra che si muove nell'eclissi dell'anima non può restituire il bacio ormai dimenticato; Dolci labbra! Egli ha gettato, sul mio cammino desolato, il buio dell'assenza, della morte peggiore!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2013 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), no title, appears in Fragments of an Unfinished Drama
This text was added to the website: 2013-03-28
Line count: 14
Word count: 99