by Henry Newbolt, Sir (1862 - 1938)
Fare well
Language: English
Mother, with unbowed head Hear thou across the sea The farewell of the dead, The dead who died for thee. Greet them again with tender words and grave, For, saving thee, themselves they could not save. To keep the house unharmed Their fathers built so fair, Deeming endurance armed Better than brute despair, They found the secret of the word that saith, "Service is sweet, for all true life is death." So greet thou well thy dead Across the homeless sea, And be thou comforted Because they died for thee. Far off they served, but now their deed is done For evermore their life and thine are one.
Authorship:
- by Henry Newbolt, Sir (1862 - 1938), "Farewell", appears in Poems: New and Old, in Songs of the Fleet, no. 6, first published 1912 [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 Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "Fare well", op. 117 no. 5 (1910), published 1910, first performed 1910 [ baritone, mixed chorus, and orchestra ], from Songs of the Fleet, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-12-06
Line count: 18
Word count: 108