by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Forgive as I forgive
Language: English 
We parted, and in anger, 
  With half-averted eye,
You gave back ev'ry token 
  Of joyous hours gone by;
But one long day of absence
  Chased anger from my mind,
And I remember'd only 
  How good thou wert, how kind;
With sadden'd heart I sought thee,
  Thy brow was clouded yet, --
Forgive as I forgive thee; 
  Forget, as I forget.

The chain of pure affection 
  Was never snapt apart 
By thoughtless words of anger
  Which came not from the heart;
And yet for worlds I would not 
  Such hours of anguish live,
Not even for the pleasure 
  Of hearing thee forgive;
By all the pangs I suffered,
  By all thy past regret, 
Forgive, as I forgive thee;
  Forget, as I forget.

Confirmed with The Nerves, J. T. Wood, London, 1865, page 3.


Authorship

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

  • by Franz Wilhelm Abt (1819 - 1885), "Forgive as I forgive", op. 433a (Vier Lieder aus dem Englischen für eine Singstimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte) no. 1, published 1872 [ voice and piano ], St. Louis, Balmer & Weber; a publisher reused this opus number in 1907 so we have added the letter 'a', also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2020-11-07
Line count: 24
Word count: 120