Io ti seguii come iride di pace
Lungo le vie del cielo:
Io ti seguii come un'amica face
De la notte nel velo.
E ti sentii ne la luce, ne l'aria,
Nel profumo dei fiori;
E fu piena la stanza solitaria
Di te, dei tuoi splendori.

In te rapito, al suon de la tua voce,
Lungamente sognai;
E de la terra ogni affanno, ogni croce,
In quel [sogno]1 scordai.
Torna, caro ideal, torna un istante
A sorridermi ancora,
E a me risplenderà, nel tuo sembiante,
Una novella aurora.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Tosti: "giorno" (verified by G. Miscia at the Istituto Nazionale Tostiano in Ortona, Italy, as being in the original score; with thanks to John Byrne for inquiring)

Text Authorship:

• by Carmelo Errico (1848 - 1892) [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 Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846 - 1916), "Ideale", published 1882 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (John Glenn Paton) , "Ideal", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English [singable] (Harrison Millard)
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Idéal", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Ideal", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• SPA Spanish (Español) (Danilo Serrano) , "Ideal", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 89

I followed thee when like a rainbow seeming
Thy light the heavens unclouded;
I followed thee a rainbow torchlight gleaming
When night's veil all enshrouded.
And thee I found in the sunlight,
Existence, in the perfume of flowers;
And my home once so lovely in the distance
Seem'd changed to fairy bowers.

By thee entranced, thy voice so sweet ascended
While of houris I dreamed.
And ev'ry torment, ev'ry sorrow, in life ended
As if love's day had beamed.
Come back, my sweet Ideal.
Come for one moment to smile like love's morning
And to me love's sun will shine, by thee reflected
My life with love adorning,
my life with love's light adorning.

Come back, my sweet Ideal. Return, return!