LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,259)
  • Text Authors (19,754)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,116)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824)

If sometimes in the haunts of men
Language: English 
If sometimes in the haunts of men
Thine image from my breast may fade,
The lonely hour presents again
The semblance of thy gentle shade:
And now that sad and silent hour
Thus much of thee can still restore,
And sorrow unobserved  may pour
The plaint she dare not speak before.
 
Oh, pardon that in crowds awhile
I waste one thought  I owe to thee,
And self-condemn'd, appear to smile,
Unfaithful to thy memory:
Nor deem that memory less dear,
That then I seem not to repine;
I would not fools should overhear
One sigh that should be wholly thine.
 
If not the goblet pass unquaff'd,
It is not drain'd to banish care;
The cup must hold a deadlier draught,
That brings a Lethe for despair.
And could Oblivion set my soul
From all her troubled visions free,
I'd dash to earth the sweetest bowl
That drown'd a single thought of thee.
For wert thou vanish'd from my mind,
Where could my vacant bosom turn?
And who could then remain behind
To honour thine abandon'd Urn?
No, no -- it is my sorrow's pride
That last dear duty to fulfil:
Though all the world forget beside,
'Tis meet that I remember still.
 
For well I know, that such had been
Thy gentle care for him, who now
Unmourn'd shall quit this mortal scene,
Where none regarded him, but thou:
And, oh! I feel in that was given
A blessing never meant for me;
Thou wert too like a dream of Heaven
For earthly Love to merit thee.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, a Romaunt: and other Poems, seventh Edition, London: John Murray, 1814, pages 234 - 236. Appears in Poems.


Text Authorship:

  • by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "Stanzas", written 1812, appears in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, a Romaunt: and other Poems, in Poems, first published 1812 [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 Samuel Percival (1824 - 1876), "Remembrance", published <<1851 [ medium voice and piano ], from Three Songs for Voice and Piano [sung text not yet checked]
  • by William Lovell Phillips (1816 - 1860), "If sometimes in the haunts of men", published 1845? [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [an adaptation] ; composed by Carl Ludwig Amand Mangold.
    • Go to the text.

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2008-04-27
Line count: 40
Word count: 256

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris