Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun

[orchid314]

Happy birthday to the magician who cast an enduring spell over the English language–

From Cymbeline

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,
Nor the furious winter’s rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages:
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o’ the great;
Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke;
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The scepter, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan:
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.

No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renownèd be thy grave!

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Aw. Happy birthday, Willie!

[ancientreader]

Oh, this is one of my favorite poems. I first knew it in adolescence, when I had no remembered experience of death and just loved the language. Reading it now, with plenty of loss under my belt, is so different; the language is as beautiful as ever but the melancholy and wistfulness are close to the bone. Thanks for reminding me of this; it's been a while since I read it.

[orchid314]

I can't remember when I first heard this, but I think it was before I was introduced to Shakespeare in high school. I haven't read Cymbeline yet, but it's on my list, perhaps for later this year.

[rachelindeed]

This was really lovely. (I seem to remember...did this appear in one of your Holmes fics, perhaps?)

I went looking to see if I could find a sung version. I liked this one, such a lovely voice and melancholy tune.

[orchid314]

Yes, I did reference this in one of the fics where Watson opens up to Holmes about the Afghan War.

Thank you for the link! The singer's voice is lovely and I'll have to listen to his other stuff on YouTube too.