The fringed Gentian (George J. Webb)

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• (Posted 2024-02-20)  CPDL #79198:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2024-02-20).   Score information: Letter, 8 pages, 394 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: The fringed Gentian
Composer: George J. Webb
Lyricist: William Cullen Bryant
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1843 J. H. Wilkins and R. B. Carter
Description: 

Original text and translations

English text

Thou blossom bright with autumn dew,
And colored with the heaven’s own blue,
That openest when the quiet light
Succeeds the keen and frosty night.

Thou comest not when violets lean
O’er wandering brooks and springs unseen,
Or columbines, in purple dressed,
Nod o’er the ground-bird’s hidden nest.

Thou waitest late and com’st alone,
When woods are bare and birds are flown,
And frosts and shortening days portend
The aged year is near his end.

Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye
Look through its fringes to the sky,
Blue -- blue -- as if that sky let fall
A flower from its cerulean wall.

I would that thus, when I shall see
The hour of death draw near to me,
Hope, blossoming within my heart,
May look to heaven as I depart.