by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Flow, my tears
Language: English
Available translation(s): CAT CHI SPA
Flow, my tears, fall from your springs!
Exiled for ever, let me mourn;
Where night's black bird her sad infamy sings,
There let me live forlorn.
Down vain lights, shine you no more!
No nights are dark enough for those
That in despair their lost fortunes deplore.
Light doth but shame disclose.
Never may my woes be relieved,
Since pity is fled;
And tears and sighs and groans my weary days
Of all joys have deprived.
From the highest spire of contentment
My fortune is thrown;
And fear and grief and pain for my deserts
Are my hopes, since hope is gone.
Hark! you shadows that in darkness dwell,
Learn to contemn light
Happy, happy they that in hell
Feel not the world's despite.
G. Jacob sets stanzas 1, 4-5
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by John Dowland (1562 - 1626), "Flow, my tears" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob (1895 - 1984), "Flow, my tears", 1932, stanzas 1,4-5 [ soprano and clarinet ], from Three Songs, no. 2, OUP/Emerson [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Sílvia Pujalte Piñán) , "Fluïu, llagrimes meves", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CHI Chinese (中文) (YiLing Chaing) , "流吧眼泪", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Javier Conte-Grand) , "Fluid, lágrimas mías, caed de vuestros manantiales!", copyright © 2009, (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: 20
Word count: 124
Fluïu, llagrimes meves
Language: Catalan (Català)  after the English
Fluïu, llàgrimes meves, brolleu de les vostres deus!
Exiliat per sempre, deixeu que em dolgui;
allà on el negre ocell de la nit canta la seva trista infàmia,
deixeu que hi visqui oblidat.
Apagueu-vos, vanes llums, no lluïu més!
No hi ha nits prou fosques per a aquells
que ploren desesperats la seva fortuna perduda.
La llum no fa més que desvetllar la vergonya.
Mai no podrà ser els meus mals alleujats,
perquè la pietat ha fugit;
Les llàgrimes, els sospirs i els gemecs els meus fatigats dies
han privat de tota joia.
Des de la més alta torre de l'alegria
la meva fortuna s'hi ha llançat;
i la por, la pena i el dolor pels meus mèrits
són les meves esperances, perquè l'esperança ha marxat.
Escolteu! Vosaltres ombres que en la foscor habiteu,
apreneu a menysprear la llum.
Feliços, feliços aquells que a l'infern
no senten la malícia del món.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2013 by Sílvia Pujalte Piñán, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2013-09-11
Line count: 20
Word count: 151