by Charles Hanson Towne (1877 - 1949)
O Queen of Beauty, who hast conquered...
Language: English
O Queen of Beauty, who hast conquered kings, O woman wonderful, in pity be Most merciful to one who softly sings Thy matchless glory; yea, to one who brings His broken songs, sung but in praise of thee. I am the prisoner of thy two eyes! Roses nor lilies breathe a sweeter breath Than thou, when Dawn’s great minarets arise. Thy breath is like a breeze from Paradise, Yet languorous with the mystery of Death! The Pleiades, which thro’ the darkness blaze, From thy great orbs have filched their wondrous light. Only the stars, with their undying rays, Shall make a necklace like a golden haze To hang about thy throat, O woman white!
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Charles Hanson Towne, The Quiet Singer And Other Poems, New York, B. W. Dodge & Company, 1908, page 109.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Hanson Towne (1877 - 1949), no title, appears in The Quiet Singer and Other Poems, in Songs out of the Orient, in 84. A Baghdad Lover (Being Certain Fragments from Scheherazade’s Songs in “The Thousand and One Nights”), no. 1 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Blair Fairchild (1877 - 1933), "O Queen of Beauty", op. 25 no. 1, published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from A Baghdad lover, no. 1, New York : H.W. Gray [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2023-02-03
Line count: 15
Word count: 114