My soul is dark - Oh! quickly string The harp I yet can brook to hear; And let thy gentle fingers fling Its melting murmurs o'er mine ear. -- If in this heart a hope be dear, That sound shall charm it forth again -- If in these eyes there lurk a tear, 'Twill flow -- and cease to burn my brain -- But bid the strain be wild and deep, Nor let thy notes of joy be first: I tell thee -- Minstrel! I must weep, Or else this heavy heart will burst -- For it hath been by sorrow nurst, And ached in sleepless silence [long]1 -- And now 'tis doom'd to know the worst, And break at once -- or yield to song.
Hebrew melodies
Song Cycle by David Leo Diamond (1915 - 2005)
1. My soul is dark  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "My soul is dark", appears in Hebrew Melodies, no. 9, adaptation of I Samuel 16:14-23, first published 1815
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Alexis Paulin Pâris) , "Mon ame est sombre", appears in Mélodies hébraïques, no. 9
1 in some versions, "too long"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. If that high world  [sung text checked 1 time]
If that high world -- which lies beyond Our own, surviving love endears; If there the cherished heart be fond, The eye the same -- except in tears -- How welcome those untrodden spheres! How sweet this very hour to die! To soar from earth and find all fears Lost in thy light -- eternity! It must be so -- 'tis not for self That we so tremble on the brink, And striving to o'erleap the gulph, Yet cling to Being's breaking link. Oh! in that future let us think To hold each heart the heart that shares; With them the immortal waters drink, And soul in soul grow deathless theirs!
Authorship:
- by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "If that high world", appears in Hebrew Melodies, no. 3, first published 1815
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Alexis Paulin Pâris) , "Si dans ce monde céleste", appears in Mélodies hébraïques, no. 3
3. Saul  [sung text checked 1 time]
Thou whose spell can raise the dead, Bid the prophet's form appear. 'Samuel, raise thy buried head! King, behold the phantom seer!' Earth yawn'd; he stood the centre of a cloud: Light changed its hue, retiring from his shroud. Death stood all glassy in his fixed eye: His hand was wither'd, and his veins were dry; His foot, in bony whiteness, glitter'd there, Shrunken and sinewless, and ghastly bare; From lips that moved not and unbreathing frame, Like cavern'd winds, the hollow acccents came. Saul saw, and fell to earth, as falls the oak, At once, and blasted by the thunderstroke. 'Why is my sleep disquieted? Who is he that calls the dead? Is it thou, O King? Behold, bloodless are these limbs, and cold: Such are mine; and such shall be Thine to-morrow, when with me: Ere the coming day is done, Such shalt thou be, such thy son. Fare thee well, but for a day, Then we mix our mouldering clay. Thou, thy race, lie pale and low, Pierced by shafts of many a bow; And the falchion by thy side To thy heart thy hand shall guide: Crownless, breathless, headless fall, Son and sire, the house of Saul!'
Authorship:
- by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "Saul", appears in Hebrew Melodies, no. 19, first published 1815
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Alexis Paulin Pâris) , "Saül", appears in Mélodies hébraïques, no. 19
4. All is vanity  [sung text checked 1 time]
Fame, wisdom, love, and power were mine, And health and youth possess'd me; My goblets blush'd from every vine, And lovely forms carress'd me; I sunn'd my heart in beauty's eyes, And felt my soul grow tender; All earth can give, or mortal prize, Was mine of regal splendour. I strive to number o'er what days Remembrance can discover, Which all that life or earth displays Would lure me to live over. There rose no day, there roll'd no hour Of pleasure unembitter'd: And not a trapping deck'd my power That gall'd not while it glitter'd. The serpent of the field, by art And spells, is won from harming; But that which coils around the heart, Oh! who hath power of charming? It will not list to wisdom's lore, Nor music's voice can lure it; But there it stings for evermore The soul that must endure it.
Authorship:
- by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "All is vanity, saith the preacher", appears in Hebrew Melodies, no. 21, first published 1815
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Alexis Paulin Pâris) , "Tout est vanité, dit l'Ecclésiaste", appears in Mélodies hébraïques, no. 21