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by William Cullen Bryant (1794 - 1878)
Translation by Miguel Antonio Caro (1845 - 1909)

Hymn of the City
Language: English 
Not in the solitude
Alone may man commune with heaven, or see
Only in savage wood
And sunny vale, the present Deity;
Or only hear his voice
Where the winds whisper and the waves rejoice.

Even here do I behold
Thy steps, Almighty!--here, amidst the crowd,
Through the great city rolled,
With everlasting murmur deep and loud --
Choking the ways that wind
`Mongst the proud piles, the work of humankind.

Thy golden sunshine comes
From the round heaven, and on their dwellings lies,
And lights their inner homes;
For them thou fill`st with air the unbounded skies,
And givest them the stores
Of ocean, and the harvests of its shores.

Thy spirit is around,
Quickening the restless mass that sweeps along;
And this eternal sound--
Voices and footfalls of the numberless throng--
Like the resounding sea,
Or like the rainy tempest, speaks of thee.

And when the hours of rest
Come, like a calm upon the mid-sea brine,
Hushing its billowy breast--
The quiet of that moment too is thine;
It breathes of him who keeps
The vast and helpless city while it sleeps.

Text Authorship:

  • by William Cullen Bryant (1794 - 1878), "Hymn of the City", from Poems, first published 1832 [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 Elinor Remick Warren (1900 - 1991), "Hymn of the City", published 1970 [ SATB chorus, piano or orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Miguel Antonio Caro) , "Himno de la ciudad", appears in Traducciones poéticas, Bogotá, Librería Americana, calle XIV, n. 77, 79, first published 1889


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2005-03-15
Line count: 30
Word count: 184

Himno de la ciudad
Language: Spanish (Español)  after the English 
No sólo en yermo llano,
Ni allá en selvoso apartamiento esquivo,
 El pensamiento humano
Puede á Dios contemplar presente y vivo;
 Ni sólo oye su acento
Donde la onda retumba y silba el viento.

 También aquí presente
Yo te adoro ¡Señor! aquí te miro,
 Donde bulle la gente
Con vasta resonancia y vario giro
 Entre muros, do ufana
Puso su sello audaz la industria humana.

 Tu luz, vertida á mares
Del combo cielo, la ciudad inunda,
 Penetra los hogares,
Espacio lleno de aire nos circunda;
 Por ti el mar sus tributos
Nos da, y las costas sus preñados frutos.

 Goza vital aliento
Tanto agrupado ser, y á ti lo debe;
 Y el sordo movimiento
De inmensa multitud que habla y se mueve,
 Tu alto poder proclama
Cual tormenta que zumba ó mar que brama.

 Y á la hora del descanso,
Cual duerme la alta mar, cesa el tumulto;
 Y aquel silencio manso,
Obra tuya también, te ofrece culto;
 Tú, soberano dueño,
De la inerte ciudad guardas el sueño.

Confirmed with Traducciones poéticas (1889), translated by Miguel Antonio Caro, LIBRERÍA AMERICANA, Bogota, 1889, pp 195-196.


Text Authorship:

  • by Miguel Antonio Caro (1845 - 1909), "Himno de la ciudad", appears in Traducciones poéticas, Bogotá, Librería Americana, calle XIV, n. 77, 79, first published 1889 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by William Cullen Bryant (1794 - 1878), "Hymn of the City", from Poems, first published 1832
    • Go to the text page.

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

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-11-04
Line count: 30
Word count: 168

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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

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