From the 1889 comic opera “The Red Hussar”
words by H. P. Stephens
music by Edward Solomon
The sheet music:
Accompaniment Mp3:
Lyrics
I dreamt I was a child again,
And stood by a silver sea.
And I look’d across the stormless main,
To a fair and far countree!
I said, “I will take me a boat, and go
To that land which so pleasant seems;
There is honour and wealth for me, I know!”
Dreams, only dreams,
Dreams, only dreams
To vanish at break of day;
Dreams, only dreams,
That the morning must drive away!
Dreams, only dreams,
Dreams that would come and go.
Dreams, only dreams,
And a whisper of long ago.
I dreamt I launch’d my boat and cried,
“It is mine, that fair countree!”
But the storm arose, and I vainly tried,
For I never could cross that sea;
No, I never could reach that land so fair,
With its honours and golden streams;
Yet I know full well they must still be there,
Dreams, only dreams!
Dreams, only dreams, that never could see the light;
Dreams, only dreams to die with the death of night!
Dreams, only dreams, cold as the winter snow;
Dreams, dreams, only dreams, only dreams, only dreams!