And will he not come again?
And will he not come again?
No, no, he is dead:
Go to thy death-bed:
He never will come again.
His beard was as white as snow,
All flaxen was his poll:
He is gone, [he is gone,]1
And we [cast away moan]2:
God [ha']3 mercy on his soul!
[And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God be wi' ye.]4

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

These words are sung by Ophelia in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5, but they are probably not by Shakespeare.

¹ omitted by White.
² Castelnuovo-Tedesco: "moan as we're cast away"
³ Castelnuovo-Tedesco: "have"
⁴ omitted by White; Castelnuovo-Tedesco; Grill: "And on the souls of all good Christians, I pray God. God be with you."

Text Authorship:

• by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, appears in Hamlet [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
• possibly by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in Hamlet [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 David Werner Amram (b. 1930), "Ophelia's song ", 1986 [ voice and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs, no. 4, C. F. Peters [sung text not yet checked]
• by Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "And will he not come again", copyright © 2005 [ soprano, harp and strings ], from Ophelia Songs, no. 6, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Osvaldo Costa de Lacerda (1927 - 2011), "And will he not come again?" [ voice and piano ], from Canções de Ofélia, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

• by Maude Valérie White (1855 - 1937), "Ophelia's Song", published 1882 [ voice and piano ], London: Boosey & Co.
  • View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]
    

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Eduard Lassen.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Joseph Simrock (1802 - 1876) , no title, appears in Shakespeare in deutscher Übersetzung, in 6. Hamlet, first published 1868 and sometimes misattributed to Ludwig Wilhelm Friedrich Seeger (1810 - 1864); composed by Richard Georg Strauss.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Ludwig Wilhelm Friedrich Seeger) , no title, appears in Shakespeare in deutscher Übersetzung, in 6. Hamlet
• GER German (Deutsch) (Karl Joseph Simrock) (Ludwig Wilhelm Friedrich Seeger) , no title, appears in Shakespeare in deutscher Übersetzung, in 6. Hamlet, first published 1868
• HEB Hebrew (עברית) (Hamutal Atariah) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2010-07-11
Line count: 11
Word count: 71

   Und kommt er nimmermehr?
    [Und kommt er nimmermehr?]1
       Er ist todt, o weh!
       In dein Totbett geh',
    Er kommt dir nimmermehr.
    Sein Bart war weiss wie Schnee,
    Sein Haupt wie Flachs dazu.
       Er ist hin, er ist hin,
       Kein Trauern bringt Gewinn:
    Mit seiner Seele Ruh'!
Und mit allen Christenseelen! darum bet' ich! --
Gott sei mit euch!