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Prologue from Earthly Paradise by William Morris, 1868
1. Verse
Of heaven or hell I have no power to sing,
I cannot ease your burden of fears,
Or make quick-coming death a little thing,
Or return the pleasure of past years,
Nor for my words shall you forget your tears,
Or hope again for aught that I can say,
The idle singer of an empty day.
Prechorus
But rather, when aweary of your mirth,
From full hearts sigh unsatisfied
And, feeling kindly unto all the earth,
Grudge every minute as it passes by,
Made the more mindful that the sweet days die -
Remember me a little then I pray,
The idle singer of an empty day.
Chorus
So let me sing of names remembered,
Because they, living not, can never be dead,
Or long time take their memory quite away
From us poor singers of an empty day
2. Verse
Dreamer of dreams, born out of my due time,
Why should I strive set the bend straight?
Let it suffice me that my rhyme
Beats with light wing against the ivory gate,
Telling a tale not importunate
To those who in the sleepy region stay,
Lulled by the singer of an empty day.
Prechorus
But rather, when aweary of your mirth,
From full hearts still unsatisfied,
And, feeling kindly unto all the earth,
Grudge every minute as it passes by,
Made the more mindful that the sweet days die -
Remember me a little than I pray,
The idle singer of an empty day.
Chorus
So let me sing of names remembered,
Because they, living not, can never be dead,
Or long time take their memory quite away
From us poor singers of an empty day
3. Verse
Folk say, a wizard to a northern king
such wondrous things did show,
That through the window men beheld the spring,
And through another saw the summer glow,
And through a third the fruited vines a-row,
While still, unheard, but in its wonted way
Piped the drear wind of that December day -
An empty day
So with this Earthly Paradise it is,
Who built a shadowy isle of bliss,
Whose ravening monsters mighty men shall slay,
Not the poor singer of an empty day.
Of heaven or hell I have no power to sing,
I cannot ease your burden of fears,
Or make quick-coming death a little thing,
Or return the pleasure of past years,
Nor for my words shall you forget your tears,
Or hope again for aught that I can say,
The idle singer of an empty day.
Prechorus
But rather, when aweary of your mirth,
From full hearts sigh unsatisfied
And, feeling kindly unto all the earth,
Grudge every minute as it passes by,
Made the more mindful that the sweet days die -
Remember me a little then I pray,
The idle singer of an empty day.
Chorus
So let me sing of names remembered,
Because they, living not, can never be dead,
Or long time take their memory quite away
From us poor singers of an empty day
2. Verse
Dreamer of dreams, born out of my due time,
Why should I strive set the bend straight?
Let it suffice me that my rhyme
Beats with light wing against the ivory gate,
Telling a tale not importunate
To those who in the sleepy region stay,
Lulled by the singer of an empty day.
Prechorus
But rather, when aweary of your mirth,
From full hearts still unsatisfied,
And, feeling kindly unto all the earth,
Grudge every minute as it passes by,
Made the more mindful that the sweet days die -
Remember me a little than I pray,
The idle singer of an empty day.
Chorus
So let me sing of names remembered,
Because they, living not, can never be dead,
Or long time take their memory quite away
From us poor singers of an empty day
3. Verse
Folk say, a wizard to a northern king
such wondrous things did show,
That through the window men beheld the spring,
And through another saw the summer glow,
And through a third the fruited vines a-row,
While still, unheard, but in its wonted way
Piped the drear wind of that December day -
An empty day
So with this Earthly Paradise it is,
Who built a shadowy isle of bliss,
Whose ravening monsters mighty men shall slay,
Not the poor singer of an empty day.
