He came like a dream in the dawn of life,
[He]1 fled like a shadow before its noon;
He is gone, and [my]2 peace is turned to strife,
And I wander and wane like the weary moon.
O, sweet Echo, wake, 
And for my sake
Make answer the while my heart shall break!

But my heart has a music which Echo's lips,
Though tender and true, yet can answer not,
And the shadow that moves in the soul's eclipse
Can return not the kiss by his now forgot;
Sweet lips! he who hath
On my desolate path
Cast the darkness of absence, worse than death!

H. McDonald sets stanza 1

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, with His Life, vol. 1, London: John Ascham, 1834, page 86.

¹ McDonald: "and he"
² McDonald: "all my"

Text Authorship:

• by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), no title, appears in Fragments of an Unfinished Drama [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 Frank Austin , "Fragments of an unfinished drama", published 1883 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Harl McDonald (1899 - 1955), "He is gone", published 1945, stanza 1 [ voice and piano ], Philadelphia: Elkan-Vogel Co. [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Frammenti di un dramma incompiuto", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2005-01-27
Line count: 14
Word count: 107