Omar Khayyám, Part II

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

1.   [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd
Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd,
Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep
They told their fellows, and to Sleep return'd.

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2.   [sung text not yet checked]

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I sent my Soul through the Invisible,
Some [letter]1 of that After-life to spell,
And by and by my Soul return'd to me
And answer'd: I myself am Heav'n and Hell.

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1 Lehmann: "secret"

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3.   [sung text not yet checked]

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Heav'n but the vision of fulfilled Desire
And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire,
Cast on the Darkness into which ourselves,
So late emerged from, shall so soon expire.

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4.   [sung text not yet checked]

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We are no other than a moving row
Of [Magic Shadow-shapes]1 that come and go
Round with this Sun-illumin'd Lantern held
In Midnight by the Master of the Show;

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2 second edition: "visionary Shapes"

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5.   [sung text not yet checked]

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But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days;
Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays;
And one by one back in the Closet lays.

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6.   [sung text not yet checked]

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The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes,
But Right or Left, as strikes the Player goes;
And He that toss'd [Thee]1 down into the Field,
He knows about it all -- HE knows --- HE knows!

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1 second, third edition: "you"

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7.   [sung text not yet checked]

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The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

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8.   [sung text not yet checked]

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And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die,
Lift not thy hands to It for help -- for it
[Rolls impotently on as Thou or I]1.

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1 second and third edition: "As impotently rolls as you or I"

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9.   [sung text not yet checked]

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With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead,
And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed:
Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.

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10.   [sung text not yet checked]

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Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare;
To-morrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair:
Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why:
Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.

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11.   [sung text not yet checked]

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I tell you this -- when, started from the Goal,
Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal 
Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung,
In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul.

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12.   [sung text not yet checked]

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The Vine had struck a Fibre; which about
If clings my Being -- let the [Stiff]1 flout;
Of my Base Metal may be filed a Key,
That shall unlock the Door he howls without.

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1 second, third, and fourth editions: "Dervish"

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13.   [sung text not yet checked]

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And this I know: whether the one True Light,
Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite,
One [Glimpse]1 of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright.

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1 second, third, and fourth editions: "Flash"

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14.   [sung text not yet checked]

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What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke
A conscious Something to resent the yoke
Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain
Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke!

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15.   [sung text not yet checked]

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What! from his helpless Creature be repaid
Pure Gold for what he lent us dross-allay'd --
Sue for a Debt we never did contract,
And cannot answer--Oh the sorry trade!

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16.   [sung text not yet checked]

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Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,
And [who with Eden didst]1 devise the Snake:
For all the Sin [wherewith the Face of]2 Man
IS [blacken'd, Man's]3 Forgiveness give -- and take!

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1 second, third, and fourth editions: "ev'n with Paradise"
2 second edition: "the Face of wretched"
3 second edition: "black with -- Man's"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

16.   [sung text not yet checked]

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Oh, Thou, who didst with Pitfall and with Gin
Beset the Road I was to wander in,
Thou wilt not [Predestination]1 round
[Enmesh me, and]2 impute my Fall to Sin?

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1 second and third editions: "Predestin'd Evil" ; fourth edition: "Predestined Evil"
2 second, third, and fourth editions: "Enmesh, and then"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

17.   [sung text not yet checked]

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Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,
And [who with Eden didst]1 devise the Snake:
For all the Sin [wherewith the Face of]2 Man
IS [blacken'd, Man's]3 Forgiveness give -- and take!

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1 second, third, and fourth editions: "ev'n with Paradise"
2 second edition: "the Face of wretched"
3 second edition: "black with -- Man's"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 580