Oh what comes over the sea, Shoals and quicksands past; And what comes home to me, Sailing slow, sailing fast? A wind comes over the sea With a moan in its blast; But nothing comes home to me, Sailing slow, sailing fast. Let me be, let me be, For my lot is cast: Land or sea all's one to me, And sail it slow or fast.
Six Sorrow Songs
Song Cycle by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912)
1. Oh what comes over the sea  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "What comes?", appears in New Poems, first published 1896, rev. 1904
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. When I am dead, my dearest  [sung text not yet checked]
When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on, as if in pain: And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.
Authorship:
- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "Song", appears in Goblin Market and other Poems, first published 1862
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Nach meinem Tode, Liebster", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Canzone", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
3. Oh roses for the flush of youth  [sung text not yet checked]
O roses for the flush of youth, And laurel for the perfect prime; But pluck an ivy branch for me Grown old before my time. O violets for the grave of youth, And bay for those dead in their prime; Give me the withered leaves I chose Before in the old time.
Authorship:
- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "Song", from Germ (Feb. 1850)
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Note: first published under the pseudonym of Ellen Alleyn.Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. She sat and sang alway  [sung text checked 1 time]
She sat and sang alway By the green margin of a stream, Watching the fishes leap and play Beneath the glad sunbeam. I sat and wept alway Beneath the moon's most shadowy beam, Watching the blossoms of the May Weep leaves into the stream. I wept for memory; She sang for hope that is so fair: My tears were swallowed by the sea; Her songs died on the air.
Authorship:
- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "Song", appears in Goblin Market and other Poems, first published 1862
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]5. Unmindful of the roses  [sung text checked 1 time]
Unmindful of the roses, Unmindful of the thorn, A reaper tired reposes Among his gathered corn: So might I, till the morn! Cold as the cold Decembers, Past as the days that set, While only one remembers And all the rest forget, -- But one remembers yet.
Authorship:
- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "One Sea-Side Grave"
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First published in Century, May 1884Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
6. Too late for love  [sung text checked 1 time]
'Too late for love, too late for joy,
Too late, too late!
You loitered on the [road]1 too long,
You trifled at the gate:
The enchanted dove upon her branch
Died without a mate;
The enchanted princess in her tower
Slept, died, behind the grate;
Her heart was starving all this while
You made it wait.
'Ten years ago, five years ago,
One year ago,
[Even]2 then you had arrived in time,
Though somewhat slow;
Then you had known her living face
Which now you cannot know:
The frozen fountain would have leaped,
The buds gone on to blow,
The warm south wind would have awaked
To melt the snow.
[ ... ]
'You should have wept her yesterday,
Wasting upon her bed:
But wherefore should you weep to-day
That she is dead?
Lo, we who love weep not to-day,
But crown her royal head.
Let be these poppies that we strew,
Your roses are too red:
Let be these poppies, not for you
Cut down and spread.'
Authorship:
- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "The Prince's Progress", appears in The Prince's Progress and other Poems, first published 1866
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View original text (without footnotes)The final, bride-song section of Rossetti's epic poem "The Prince's Progress"
Confirmed with Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, London, etc.: Oxford University Press/Project Gutenburg, 2005.
1 Coleridge-Taylor: "way"2 Coleridge-Taylor: "e'en"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]