Sun of the sleepless! melancholy star! Whose tearful beam glows tremulously far! That show'st the darkness thou canst not dispel, How like art thou to joy remember'd well! So gleams the past, the light of other days, Which shines, but warms not with its powerless rays; A nightbeam Sorrow watcheth to behold, Distinct, but distant - clear - but, oh how cold!
Lord Byron's Hebrew Melodies
Song Cycle by James Nary
?. Sun of the sleepless  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "Sun of the sleepless", appears in Hebrew Melodies, no. 24, first published 1815
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Alexis Paulin Pâris) , "Soleil des hommes qui ne peuvent dormir", appears in Mélodies hébraïques, no. 24
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Sole degli insonni", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
?. If that high world  [sung text not yet checked]
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
?. My soul is dark  [sung text not yet checked]
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.
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
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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]
?. Oh! snatched away in beauty's bloom  [sung text not yet checked]
Oh! snatched away in beauty's bloom, On thee shall press no ponderous tomb; But on thy turf shall roses rear Their leaves, the earliest of the year; And the wild cypress wave in tender gloom: And oft by yon blue gushing stream Shall sorrow lean her drooping head, And feed deep thought with many a dream, And lingering pause and lightly tread; Fond wretch! as if her step disturbed the dead! Away! we know that tears are vain, That death nor heeds nor hears distress: Will this unteach us to complain? Or make one mourner weep the less? And thou -- who tell'st me to forget, Thy looks are wan, thine eyes are wet.
Authorship:
- by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "Oh! snatched away in beauty's bloom", appears in Hebrew Melodies, no. 8
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Alexis Paulin Pâris) , "O toi, qui nous es ravie dans la fleur de la beauté", appears in Mélodies hébraïques, no. 8