Over the mountains
Language: English 
Over the mountains,
And over the waves,
Under the fountains
And under the graves.
Under floods that are deepest
Which Neptune obey,
Over rocks that are steepest,
Love will find out the way.

Where there is no place
For the glow-worm to lie,
Where there is no space
For receipt of a fly;
Where the midge dare not venture
Lest herself fast she lay,
If love come, he will enter
And soon find out his way.

You may esteem him
A child for his might;
Or you may deem him
A coward from his flight;
But if she whom love doth honour
Be conceal'd from the day,
Set a thousand guards upon her,
Love will find out the way.

Some think to lose him
By having him confined;
And some do suppose him,
Poor thing, to be blind;
But if ne'er so close ye wall him,
Do the best that ye may,
Blind love, if so ye call him,
Will find out his way.

You may train the eagle
To stoop to your fist;
Or you may inveigle
The phoenix of the East,
The lioness, ye may move her
to give o'er her prey;
But you'll ne'er stop a lover:
He will find out his way.

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•   R. Quilter 

R. Quilter sets stanzas 1-2, 4-5

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Text Authorship:

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

Set in a modified version by Joseph Haydn.

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation ; composed by James Mulholland.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 - 1803) , "Weg der Liebe" [an adaptation] ; composed by Johannes Brahms, Max Bruch, Albert Fuchs, Hugo Wilhelm Ludwig Kaun, Wilhelm Albert Rischbieter, Karl Sigmund Freiherr von Seckendorff.

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 40
Word count: 216