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by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892)

Tears, idle tears
 (Sung text for setting by G. Holst)
 See original
Language: English 
Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.

Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,
That brings our friends up from the underworld,
Sad as the last which reddens over one
That sinks with all we love below the verge;
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.

 ... 

Composition:

    Set to music by Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934), "Tears, idle tears", op. 20a no. 3, H. 80 no. 3, stanzas 1-2 [ chorus ], from Songs from The Princess, no. 3

Text Authorship:

  • by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), appears in The Princess, first published 1847

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 167

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