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possibly by Charles (John Huffam) Dickens (1812 - 1870)

The pure, the bright, the beautiful
Language: English 
The pure, the bright, the beautiful, 
That stirred our hearts in youth; 
The longings after something lost; 
The impulse to a wordless pray’r.

The dreams of love and truth; 
Revivings of our better hopes; 
The spirits yearning to cry; 
These things can never die. 

Chorus: 
The pure, the bright, the beautiful, 
These things can never die. 
The pure, the bright, the beautiful, 
These things can never die. 

The timid hand stretch forth to aid 
A brother in his need, 
The kindly word in grief's dark hour 
That proves a friend indeed.

The plea for mercy, softly breathed, 
When justice threatens high, 
The sorrow of a contrite heart 
These things can never die. 

Chorus: 
The pure, the bright, the beautiful, 
These things can never die. 
The pure, the bright, the beautiful, 
These things can never die. 

The cruel and bitter word, 
That bounded as it fell; 
The chilling want of sympathy, 
We feel, but never tell. 

The hard repulse that chills the heart 
Whose hopes were bounding high, 
In an unfading record kept 
These things can never die.

Text Authorship:

  • possibly by Charles (John Huffam) Dickens (1812 - 1870) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

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

  • by Stephen Collins Foster (1826 - 1864), "The pure, the bright, the beautiful", published 1863. [voice and piano] [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: Laura Prichard [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 34
Word count: 177

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