Three Blake Songs

Song Cycle by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946)

1. Love's secret  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Never seek to tell thy love 
Love that never told [can]1 be;
For the gentle wind does move
Silently, invisibly.

I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart,
[Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears]2 --
Ah, she [doth]3 depart.

Soon as she was gone from me
[A traveller came by]4
Silently, invisibly --
[He took her with a sigh]5.

Text Authorship:

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View original text (without footnotes)
1 Stöhr: "shall"
2 Stöhr: "Trembling between hope and fear"
3 Stöhr: "did"
4 Stöhr: "A boy chanced going by"
5 Leoni: "O, was no deny"

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler

2. In a myrtle shade  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Why should I be bound to thee,
O my lovely Myrtle-tree?
Love, free Love, cannot be bound
To any tree that grows on ground.

O! how sick and weary I
Underneath my Myrtle lie;
Like to dung upon the ground,
Underneath my Myrtle bound.

Oft my Myrtle sigh'd in vain
To behold my heavy chain:
Oft my Father saw us sigh,
And laugh'd at our simplicity.

So I smote him, and his gore
Stain'd the roots my Myrtle bore.
But the time of youth is fled,
And grey hairs are on my head.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. The wild flower's song  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
As I wander'd the forest,
The green leaves among,
I heard a wild flower
Singing a song:

"I slept in the dark
In the silent night,
I murmur'd my fears
And I felt delight.

"In the morning I went
As rosy as morn
To seek for a new Joy,
But I met with scorn."

Text Authorship:

  • by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The wild flower's song", from Life, Vol. II, first published 1863

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 215