It is not the tear (Michael William Balfe)
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- (Posted 2024-01-12) CPDL #78720:
- Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2024-01-12). Score information: Letter, 8 pages, 404 kB Copyright: Personal
- Edition notes:
General Information
Title: It is not the tear
Composer: Anonymous (Traditional)
Arranger: Michael William Balfe
Lyricist: Thomas Moore
Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong, Folksong
Language: English
Instruments: Piano
First published: 1859 J. Alfred Novello
Description: AIR: THE SIXPENCE
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
It is not the tear at this moment shed,
When the cold turf has just been laid o’er him,
That can tell how beloved was the friend that’s fled,
Or how deep in our hearts we deplore him.
’Tis the tear, through many a long day wept,
Thro’ a life by his loss all shaded;
’Tis the sad remembrance, fondly kept,
When all lighter griefs have faded.
Oh! thus shall we mourn; and his memory’s light,
Kept alive in our hearts, will improve them,
For worth shall look fairer, and truth more bright,
When we think how he lived but to love them.
And, as buried saints the grave perfume,
Where fadeless they’ve long been lying,
So our hearts shall borrow a sweetening bloom
From the image he left there in dying!