Be you still, be you still, trembling heart;
Remember the wisdom out of the old days:
Him who trembles before the flame and the flood,
And the winds that blow through the starry ways,
Let the starry winds and the flame and the flood
Cover over and hide, for he has no part
With the proud, majestical multitude.

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: first published in Savoy, November 1896 as one of "Windlestraws", revised 1899 and 1922, renamed "To his heart, bidding it have no fear"

Text Authorship:

• by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "Out of the old days" [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 Richard Roderick-Jones (b. 1947), "To his heart, bidding it have no fear", 1966 [ soprano and piano ], from The wind among the reeds [sung text not yet checked]
• by Paul Schwartz (1907 - 1999), "To his heart, bidding it have no fear", 1945 [ high voice or medium voice and piano ], from A Poet to His Beloved [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Al suo cuore, esortandolo a non temere", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-20
Line count: 7
Word count: 58