by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892)
The fault was mine See original
Language: English
1.
'The fault was mine, the fault was mine' --
Why am I sitting here so stunn'd and still,
Plucking the harmless wild-flower on the hill? --
It is this guilty hand! --
And there arises ever a passionate cry
...
A cry for a brother's blood:
It will ring in my heart and my ears, till I die, till I die.
2.
Is it gone? my pulses beat --
What was it? a lying trick of the brain?
Yet I thought I saw her stand,
A shadow there at my feet,
High over the shadowy land.
It is gone; and the heavens fall in a gentle rain,
When they should burst and drown with deluging storms
The feeble vassals of wine and anger and lust,
The little hearts that know not how to forgive:
Arise, my God, and strike, for we hold Thee just,
Strike dead the whole weak race of venomous worms,
That sting each other here in the dust;
We are not worthy to live.
Composition:
- Set to music by Arthur Somervell, Sir (1863 - 1937), "The fault was mine", published 1898 [ voice and piano ], from Cycle of Songs from Tennyson's Maud, no. 10, London: Boosey & Hawkes
Text Authorship:
- by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), no title, appears in Maud, Part 2, no. 1
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 50
Word count: 374