It is not the tear (Michael William Balfe)

Music files

**L E G E N D**
ICON	SOURCE
	Pdf
	Mp3
	File details
	Help

(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!