I saw thy form in youthful prime (Michael William Balfe)

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• (Posted 2024-01-16)  CPDL #78772:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2024-01-16).   Score information: Letter, 12 pages, 575 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: I saw thy form in youthful prime
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: DOMHNALL

Original text and translations

English text

I saw thy form in youthful prime,
Nor thought that pale decay
Would steal before the steps of Time,
And waste its bloom away, Mary!
Yet still thy features wore that light,
Which fleets not with the breath;
And life ne’er look’d more truly bright
Than in thy smile of death, Mary!

As streams that run o’er golden mines,
With modest murmur glide,
Nor seem to know the wealth that shines
Within their gentle tide, Mary!
So veil’d beneath the simplest guise,
Thy radiant genius shone,
And that which charm’d all other eyes
Seem’d worthless in thy own, Mary!

If souls could always dwell above,
Thou ne’er hadst left thy sphere;
Or could we keep the souls we love,
We ne’er had lost thee here, Mary!
Though many a gifted mind we meet,
Though fairest forms we see,
To live with them is far less sweet
Than to remember thee, Mary!