Lyre of Lyonesse Lyrics

Lyre, please cast me across the ocean;
Lyre, return my love over the seas.
Sickening, crying, withering, dying,
Isolde, hear my requiem, answer my plea.

Send me a signal, heal me, free me;
Is love so short lived worth a sorrow so long?
If white sails light the shore, the melody quickens
If black sails cloud the bay, here endeth my song.

From Cornwall to Ireland I sailed for his bride
Fatal passion brought by the tide.
Of destiny's potion we strangers drank deep,
Waking as lovers from enchanted sleep.

Tristan, farewell,
Death will renew
(Neither) you without me, nor me without you.

I worshipped my lady, deluding my lord
In quenching our ardour I tainted the sword.
Chivalry fell with a twist of her lips
In rapture we wandered, our virtue eclipsed.

Tristan adieu,
Au revoir,
Ni moi sans vous, ni vous sans moi.

Lyre, please cast me across the ocean;
Lyre, return my love over the seas.
Sickening, crying, withering, dying,
Isolde, hear my requiem, answer my plea.

Send me a signal, heal me, free me;
Is love so short lived worth a sorrow so long?
If white sails light the shore, the melody quickens
If black sails cloud the bay, here endeth my song.

Bliss made us foolish, we did not take heed
Tied to the stake, to be burnt for our greed.
We courted the gallows, the leprosy ring
Suspicions awakened the wrath of the King.

Lady, farewell,
Death will renew
(Neither) you without me, nor me without you.

To Morrois, our forest, we fled in the night
Enough of the Court and its hideous bite.
But Mark never ceased interrupting our dance
Banished from Cornwall, you left me for France.

Lady, adieu,
Au revoir,
Ni moi sans vous, ni vous sans moi

Lyre, please cast me across the ocean;
Lyre, return my love over the seas.
Sickening, crying, withering, dying,
Isolde, hear my requiem, answer my plea.

Send me a signal, heal me, free me;
Is love so short lived worth a sorrow so long?
If white sails light the shore, the melody quickens
If black sails cloud the bay, here endeth my song.

Feverous blur marked my time en Bretagne.
Unknowingly married cold, fair Blanches Mains.
Pulse fades with the song, poison seeps through the cracks;
I take my last breath for “the sails are black.”

Lady, farewell,
Death will renew
(Neither) you without me, nor me without you.

Swoon on his corpse, life is ebbing away
Not for this world, with my last thought I pray:
Together we'll lie, for in death we are saved
Hazel and honey shall marry our graves.

Tristan adieu,
Au revoir,
Ni moi sans vous, ni vous sans moi

Lyre, please cast me across the ocean;
Lyre, return my love over the seas.
Sickening, crying, withering, dying,
Isolde, hear my requiem, answer my plea.

Send me a signal, heal me, free me;
Is love so short lived worth a sorrow so long?
If white sails light the shore, the melody quickens
If black sails cloud the bay, here endeth my song.

Lyre, please cast me across the ocean;
Lyre, return my love over the seas.
Sickening, crying, withering, dying,
Isolde, hear my requiem, answer my plea.

Send me a signal, heal me, free me;
Is love so short lived worth a sorrow so long?
If white sails light the shore, the melody quickens
If black sails cloud the bay, here endeth my song.

Lyre, please cast me across the ocean;
Lyre, return my love over the seas.
Sickening, crying, withering, dying,
I hear the requiem, answer my plea.

Send him a signal, heal him, free him;
Is love so short lived worth a sorrow so long?
If white sails light the shore, the melody quickens
If black sails cloud the bay, here endeth our song.