by Robert Seymour Bridges (1844 - 1930)
The voice of desire See original
Language: English
Beautiful must be the mountains whence ye come, And bright in the fruitful valleys the streams, wherefrom Ye learn your song: Where are those starry woods? O might I wander there, Among the flowers, which in that heavenly air Bloom the year long! ... barren are those mountains and spent the streams: Our song is the voice of desire, that haunts our dreams, A throe of the heart, Whose pining visions dim, forbidden hopes profound, No dying cadence nor long sigh can sound, For all our art. Alone, aloud in the raptured ear of men We pour our dark nocturnal secret; and then, As night is withdrawn ... Dream, while the innumerable choir of day Welcome the dawn.
Composition:
- Set to music by Judith Weir (b. 1954), "The voice of desire", 2003 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from The Voice of Desire, no. 1, Chester Music Ltd
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Seymour Bridges (1844 - 1930), "Nightingales", appears in The Shorter Poems of Robert Bridges, in 5. Book V, first published 1893
See other settings of this text.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-01-08
Line count: 18
Word count: 126