The kiss, dear maid, thy lip has left, Shall never part from mine, Till happier hours restore the gift Untainted back to thine. Thy parting glance, which fondly beams, An equal love, may see; [That]1 tear that from thine eyelid streams Can weep no change in me. I ask no pledge to make me blest In gazing when alone; Nor one memorial for a breast Whose thoughts are all thine own. Nor need I write - to tell the tale My pen were doubly weak: Oh! What can idle words avail, Unless the heart could speak? By day or night, in weal or woe, [That]2 heart, no longer free, Must bear the love it cannot show, And silent ache for thee.
Six Songs & Duetts [sic]
Song Cycle by Mary Southcote
?. The kiss, dear maid  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "On parting", written 1811, appears in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, a Romaunt: and other Poems, in Poems, first published 1812 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Isabelle Cecchini) , "Le baiser, chère enfant, que ta lèvre a laissé", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Alexis Paulin Pâris) , "Le départ"
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Georg Pertz) , "Der Scheidekuß von deinem Mund"
Confirmed with Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, a Romaunt: and other Poems, seventh Edition, London: John Murray, 1814, pages 216 - 217. Appears in Poems.
1 Beethoven: "The"2 Beethoven: "This"
Researcher for this text: Ferdinando Albeggiani
Total word count: 121