Ojalá
(1889)- Music by Margaret Ruthven Lang
- Text by George Eliot
"Dear Miss Lang,
I showed your songs to van der Stucken [another well know composer of the day] who says he will put 'Ojalá' on his programme. I expect to accompany it myself and hope to bring down the house. Concert is day after tomorrow. All Well. Kind regards to all. "
"Ojalá" (which is Arabic/Spanish for "God Willing") was also part of the Inauguration Concert of American Composers at the Lincoln Concert Hall in Washington, D.C. on March 26, 1890. The poet of this song is the famous George Eliot, a pen name of Mary Anne (Mary Ann, Marian) Evans (1819 –1880).
--Donald George and Lucy Mauro
Ojalá
by George Eliot
Spring comes hither,
Buds the rose;
Roses wither,
Sweet spring goes.
Ojalá, would she carry me!
Summer soars,
White-winged day
White light pours,
Flies away.
Ojalá, would he carry me!
Soft winds blow,
Westward born,
Onward go
Toward the morn.
Ojalá, would they carry me!
Sweet birds sing
O’er the graves,
Then take wing
O’er the waves.
Ojalá, would they carry me!
