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The Yeomen of the Guard


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No. 5: BALLAD (Colonel Fairfax)

"Is life a boon?"
Midi Symbol MIDI File [12KB, 1' 45 "] Sequenced by Mike Nash.


Fairfax.
  Is life a boon?
    If so, it must befall
That Death, whene'er he call,
  Must call too soon
    Though fourscore years he give,
Yet one would pray to live
  Another moon!
   

What kind of plaint have I,
Who perish in July,
Who perish in July?

  I might have had to die,
    Perchance, in June!
  I might have had to die,
    Perchance, in June!
   
  Is life a thorn?
    Then count it not a whit!
Nay, count it not a whit!
Man is well done with it;
  Soon as he's born
    He should all means essay
To put the plague away;
  And I, war-worn,
    Poor captured fugitive,
My life most gladly give—
I might have had to live,
  Another morn!
    I might have had to live, to live
  Another morn!
Click on picture to enlarge
Courtice Pounds as Colonel Fairfax in the Original Production, 1888

At the end, Phœbe is led off, weeping, by Meryll.

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