Peace be around thee, wherever thou rovest;
May life be for thee one summer's day,
And all that thou wishest, and all that thou lovest,
Come smiling around thy sunny way!
If sorrow e'er this calm should break,
May even thy tears pass off so lightly;
Like [spring-showers]1, they'll only make
The smiles that follow shine more brightly!

May Time, who sheds his blight o'er all,
And daily dooms some joy to death,
[O'er]2 thee let years so [gently]3 fall
They shall not crush one flower beneath!
As half in shade and half in sun,
This world along its path advances,
May that side the sun's upon
Be all that e'er shall meet thy glances!

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Needham: "sweet spring show'rs"
² Needham: "On"
³ Needham: "lightly"

Text Authorship:

• by Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852), "Peace be around thee", appears in National Airs, first published 1820 [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 Frederic Hymen Cowen, Sir (1852 - 1935), "Peace be around thee", published 1898 [ voice and piano ], from Third Set of Six Songs [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rosalind Frances Ellicott (1857 - 1924), "Peace be around thee", published 1889 [ four-part chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alicia Adélaïda Needham (1863 - 1945), "Peace be around thee", published 1904 [ SATB quartet with piano ], from A Bunch of Shamrocks , no. 9, London: Boosey & Co. [sung text checked 1 time]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor] , Melanie Trumbull

This text was added to the website: 2007-09-23
Line count: 16
Word count: 119