by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
The past
Language: English
Wilt thou forget the happy hours Which we buried in love's sweet bowers, Heaping over their corpses cold Blossoms and leaves, instead of mould? Blossoms which were the joys that fell, And leaves, the hopes, the hopes that yet remain. Forget the dead, forget the past? Oh, yet There are ghosts that may take revenge for it, Memories that make the heart a tomb, [Regrets glide through]1 the spirit's gloom And with ghastly whispers tell, That joy, once lost, is pain.
View original text (without footnotes)
1 Bennett: "Revenge which glides o'er"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
1 Bennett: "Revenge which glides o'er"
Text Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "The past", first published 1824 [author's text checked 1 time 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 William Sterndale Bennett (1816 - 1875), "The past", op. 23 (Sechs Gesänge für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 5, published 1842 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Wilhelm Christoph Leonhard Gerhard (1780 - 1858) ; composed by William Sterndale Bennett.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Minulost"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2003-11-26
Line count: 12
Word count: 81