by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by William Hawkins (1722 - 1801)

Fear no more the heat of the sun (The Dirge in Cymbeline) 
Language: English  after the English 
Fear no more the heat of the sun,
  Nor the furious winter's blast;
Thou thy worldly task has done,
  And the dream of life is past.
Golden lads and girls all must
Follow thee, and come to dust. 

Fear no more the frown of the great,
  Death does mock the tyrant foe;
Happiest is the early fate,
  Misery with time does grow.
Monarchs, sages, peasants must
Follow thee and come to dust. 

No exorciser harm thee,
No spell of witchcraft charm thee,
Grim ghost unlaid forbear thee,
The fairy elves be near thee!
Quiet consummation have,
Unremoved be thy grave.

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Based on:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:


Researcher for this page: Athony Burton

This text was added to the website: 2009-07-15
Line count: 18
Word count: 100