Four Poems by Edgar Allan Poe , opus 16

by Oscar George Theodore Sonneck (1873 - 1928)

1. To Helen  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicéan barks of yore,
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,
The weary, way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece,
And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo! In yon brilliant window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand,
The agate lamp within thy hand!
Ah, Psyche, from the regions which
Are Holy-Land!

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2. Thou wouldst be loved  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Thou wouldst be loved? -- then let thy heart
     From its present pathway part not!
Being everything which now thou art,
     Be nothing which thou art not.
So with the world thy gentle ways,
     Thy grace, thy more than beauty,
Shall be an endless theme of praise,
     And love -- a simple duty.

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Note: "F--s S. O--d" is Frances Sargent Osgood.

2. Thou wouldst be loved?  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Thou wouldst be loved? — then let thy heart
  From its present pathway part not!
Being everything which now thou art,
  Be nothing which thou art not.
So with the world thy gentle ways,
  Thy grace, thy more than beauty,
Shall be an endless theme of praise,
  And love — a simple duty.

Text Authorship:

  • by Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849), "TO F——s S. O——d.", written 1833-1845

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3. Eldorado  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old -
This knight so bold -
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength 
Failed him, at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow -
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be -
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied,
"If you seek for Eldorado!"

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4. A dream within a dream  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow -
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep - while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

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