He is gone on the mountain,
He is lost to the forest,
Like a summer-dried fountain,
When our need was the sorest.
The font, re-appearing,
From the rain-drops shall borrow,
But to us comes no cheering,
To Duncan no morrow!

The hand of the reaper
Takes the ears that are hoary,
But the voice of the weeper
Wails manhood in glory;
The autumn winds rushing
Waft the leaves that are searest,
But our flower was in flushing,
When blighting was nearest.

Fleet foot on the correi1,
Sage counsel in cumber,
Red hand in the foray,
How sound is thy slumber!
Like the dew on the mountain,
Like the foam on the river
Like the bubble on the fountain,
Thou art gone, and for ever!

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View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with The Lady of the Lake. A Poem. By Walter Scott, Esq. The fourth edition. Edinburgh: Printed for John Ballantyne and Co. Edinburgh; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, and W. Miller, London. 1810, pages 117-118.

¹ Or corri. The hollow side of the hill, where game usually lies. (Scott's own footnote)

Text Authorship:

• by Walter Scott, Sir (1771 - 1832), "Coronach", appears in The Lady of the Lake, in 3. Canto Third. The Gathering., no. 16, first published 1810 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Thomas Attwood (1765 - 1838), "He is gone on the mountain" [ voice and piano ], London, Monzani & Hill [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Humphrey Procter-Gregg (1895 - 1980), "Coronach" [ chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Adam Storck (1780 - 1822) , "Coronach", subtitle: "Todtengesang", appears in Das Fräulein vom See, in 3. Dritter Gesang. Das Aufgebot., first published 1819 ; composed by Franz Peter Schubert.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Coronach", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-07
Line count: 24
Word count: 124