Sail on, sail on | Sail on, sail on, thou fearless bark

by Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852)

Sail on, sail on

Language: English

Our translations: CAT CHI FRE

Sail on, sail on, thou fearless bark,
Wherever blows the welcome wind;
It cannot lead to scenes more dark,
More sad than those we leave behind.
Each smiling billow seems to say
"Though death beneath our surface be,
Less cold we are, less false than they,
Whose smiling wrecked thy hopes and thee."

Sail on, sail on, through endless space,
Through calm, through tempest, stop no more;
The stormiest sea's a resting-place
To him who leaves such hearts on shore.
Or, if some desert land we meet,
Where never yet false-hearted men
Profaned a world, that else were sweet,
Then rest thee, bark, but not till then.

Air -- The Humming of the Ban.

Text Authorship:

by Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852), "Sail on, sail on", appears in Irish Melodies [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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Sail on, sail on", note: arrangement of a tune called The Hummingbird of the Barn [sung text checked 1 time]
by John Axel Fernström (1897 - 1961), "Sail on, sail on", op. 62 no. 4 (1942) [ coloratura soprano and string quintet or orchestra ], from Songs of the Sea, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Fanny (Franziska) von Hoffnaaß, née Jägerhuber (1831 - 1892) ; composed by Joseph Rheinberger.
- Go to the text.

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-10-13
Line count: 16
Word count: 107