by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882)
The one hope
Language: English
When vain desire at last and vain regret Go hand in hand to death, and all is vain, What shall assuage the unforgotten pain And teach the unforgetful to forget? Shall Peace be still a sunk stream long unmet, Or may the soul at once in a green plain Stoop through the spray of some sweet life-fountain And cull the dew-drenched flowering amulet? Ah! when the wan soul in that golden air Between the scriptured petals softly blown Peers breathless for the gift of grace unknown, - Ah! let none other alien spell soe'er But only the one Hope's one name be there, - Not less nor more, but even that word alone.
Authorship:
- by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882), "The one hope", appears in Poems, first published 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 John (Nicholson) Ireland (1879 - 1962), "The one hope", 1926, published 1928 [ voice and piano ], from Three Songs, no. 3, Augener & Co. Ltd. [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 113