by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
Easter Hymn
Language: English
Our translations: GER
If in that Syrian garden, ages slain, You sleep, and know not you are dead in vain, Nor even in dreams behold how dark and bright Ascends in smoke and fire by day and night The hate you died to quench and could but fan, Sleep well and see no morning, son of man. But if, the grave rent and the stone rolled by, At the right hand of majesty on high You sit, and sitting so remember yet Your tears, your agony and bloody sweat, Your cross and passion and the life you gave, Bow hither out of heaven and see and save.
Text Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), "Easter Hymn", appears in More Poems, no. 1, first published 1936 [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 Ian Venables (b. 1955), "Easter Hymn", op. 36 no. 1 (2003), first performed 2004 [ tenor, piano, string quartet ], from Songs of Eternity and Sorrow, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Ramsden Williamson (1929 - 2015), "Easter Hymn" [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Osterlied", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-12-13
Line count: 12
Word count: 104