Scan 58

Songs of my violin, 1901

20 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.

1SONG OF THE "E" STRING.

3BENEATH low cliffs that gently rising, sinking,

4Rolled far away into the deep blue sea,

5There sat a youth, half-dreaming and half-thinking,

6 Who held a three-stringed rebec on his knee.

7He listened sadly to the ocean's throbbing,

8And to each wave that gently kissed the land,

9And to the music, like fair mermaids sobbing,

10Of water purling down the pebbled strand.

11He watched the west'ring sunbeams, slowly dying,

12Make golden islands in the sunset sky;

13While on the breeze, that came with harp-like sighing,

14He launched the sadness of a human sigh:

15 "Oh, why, oh, why," he cried,

16 "Am I dissatisfied?

17Why with my instrument

18Forever discontent?

19 Why does it body forth only a part

The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.