Wilt thou forget the happy hours Which we buried in love's sweet bowers, Heaping over their corpses cold Blossoms and leaves, instead of mould? Blossoms which were the joys that fell, And leaves, the hopes, the hopes that yet remain. Forget the dead, forget the past? Oh, yet There are ghosts that may take revenge for it, Memories that make the heart a tomb, [Regrets glide through]1 the spirit's gloom And with ghastly whispers tell, That joy, once lost, is pain.
1 Bennett: "Revenge which glides o'er"
Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "The past", first published 1824 [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 William Sterndale Bennett (1816 - 1875), "The past", op. 23 (Sechs Gesänge für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 5, published 1842 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Wilhelm Christoph Leonhard Gerhard (1780 - 1858) ; composed by William Sterndale Bennett.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Minulost"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2003-11-26
Line count: 12
Word count: 81
Zda zapomeneš ony šťastné chvíle, jež pohřbili jsme v lásky loubí milé na chladná těla jich vršíce jemně jen kvítí s lupením na místo země? To lupení naděje, které zbyly, to kvítí uprchlý náš ples. Smrt, Minulost, ó jak jich zapomníti? Jsou duchové, kteří se mohou mstíti, jsou vzpomínky srdce na hroby měnící, jsou výčitky ducha šerem se ploužící, jež duchovým šeptem dí a kvílí, že radost prchlá bol je dnes.
Confirmed with SHELLEY, P. B. Výbor lyriky, translated by Jaroslav Vrchlický, Praha: J. Otto, 1901, page 34.
Authorship:
- by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912), "Minulost" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "The past", first published 1824
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-07-25
Line count: 12
Word count: 71