So we'll go no more a-roving
  So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
  And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears the sheath,
  And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
  And Love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
  And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a-roving
  By the light of the moon.

Included in a letter to Thomas Moore on February 28, 1817
See also Henley's "We'll go no more a-roving"

Composition:

Set to music by Carlos Chávez (1899 - 1978), "So, we'll go no more a roving", published 1946 [ SSAATTBB chorus a cappella ], from Three Nocturnes, no. 3

Text Authorship:

• by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "So we'll go no more a-roving", written 1817, appears in Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: with Notices of His Life, Volume II, first published 1830

See other settings of this text.

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

• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , "So werden wir nicht mehr schweifen", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 79