Where shall the lover rest?

General information

Lyricist Walter Scott

Settings by composers

• John Clarke-Whitfeld S solo with SATB chorus
• John Liptrot Hatton SATB
• Charles Hubert Hastings Parry T solo

Texts and Translations

English text

Where shall the lover rest
Whom the fates sever
From his true maiden's breast,
Parted for ever?
Where, through groves deep and high,
Sounds the fair billow,
Where early violets die,
Under the willow.
Eheu loro, eheu loro,
Soft shall be his pillow.

There, through the summer day,
Cool streams are laving;
There, while the tempests sway,
Scarce are boughs waving;
There, thy rest shall thou take,
Parted for ever,
Never again to wake,
Never, O never!
Eheu loro, eheu loro,
Never, O never!

Where shall the traitor rest,
He, the deceiver,
Who could win maiden's breast,
Ruin and leave her?
In the lost battle,
Borne down by the flying,
Where mingles war's rattle
With groans of the dying.
Eheu loro, eheu loro,
There shall he be lying.

Her wings shall the eagle flap
O'er the false-hearted,
His warm blood the wolf shall lap,
Ere life be parted,
Shame and dishonour sit
By his grave ever;
Blessing shall hallow it,
Never, O never!
Eheu loro, eheu loro,
Never, O never!