Endymion
ENDYMION
It Comes & Responds!
Endymion is based on Greek Mythology and tells the story of the moon Goddess Diana’s unrequited love for the mortal Endymion. Endymion was thought to be a handsome King or hunter and Diana asked Zeus to put him into an eternal sleep so that he may never lose his beauty. Zeus granted her request and she would visit him every night to watch him while he slept. It comprises two movements.
LYRICS
It Comes.
It comes, it comes.
The rising moon has hid the stars;
Her level rays, like golden bars,
Lie on the landscape green,
With shadows brown between.
And silver white the river gleams,
As if Diana, in her dreams,
Had dropt her silver bow
Upon the meadows low.
It comes, it comes.
On such a tranquil night as this,
She woke Endymion with a kiss,
When, sleeping in the grove,
He dreamed not of her love.
Like Dian's kiss, unasked, unsought,
Love gives itself, but is not bought;
Nor voice, nor sound betrays
Its deep, impassioned gaze.
It comes, it comes--the beautiful, the free,
It comes, it comes--The crown of all humanity,
In silence and alone
To seek the elected one.
It comes.
Responds!
Responds, responds!
It lifts the boughs, whose shadows deep
Are Life's oblivion, the soul's sleep,
And kisses the closed eyes
Of him, who slumbering lies.
O weary hearts! O slumbering eyes!
O drooping souls, whose destinies
Are fraught with fear and pain,
And kisses the closed eyes
Of him, who slumbering lies.
O weary hearts! O slumbering eyes!
O drooping souls, whose destinies
Are fraught with fear and pain,
Ye shall be loved again!
Loved again, again, again!
Responds, responds! Responds, responds!
Responds, responds! Responds, responds!
No one is so accursed by fate,
No one so utterly desolate,
But some heart, though unknown,
Responds unto his own.
Responds,--as if with unseen wings,
An angel touched its quivering strings;
And whispers, in its song,
No one so utterly desolate,
But some heart, though unknown,
Responds unto his own.
Responds,--as if with unseen wings,
An angel touched its quivering strings;
And whispers, in its song,
"Where hast thou stayed so long?
Stayed so long, so long, so long?"
Responds, responds! Responds, responds!
Responds, responds! Responds, responds!
Responds!
