Thomas Moore: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet

Thomas Moore

“There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet” as printed in Irish Melodies (1821).

Thomas Moore: Collected Lyrics Text 23 1821 · historical text
Public domainIrish songRomantic ballad
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from Irish Melodies, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet

As that vale, in whose bosom the bright waters meet†;

Oh! the last rays of feeling and life must depart,

Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart.

Verse 2

Yet, it was not that nature had shed o'er the scene

Her purest of crystal and brightest of green;

'Twas not the soft magic of streamlet or hill,

Oh! no,— it was something more exquisite still.

Verse 3

'Twas that friends, the belov'd of my bosom, were near,

Who made every dear scene of enchantment more dear,

And who felt how the best charms of nature improve,

When we see them reflected from looks that we love.

Verse 4

Sweet vale of Avoca! how calm could I rest

In thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best,

Where the storms that we feel in this cold world should cease,

And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace!

Credits

Written by Thomas Moore

Words by Thomas Moore. Historical text published in Irish Melodies (1821); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

Irish Melodies (1821), “There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet”

Every lyric in this collection was written by Thomas Moore (1779-1852) and first published between 1808 and 1821 (music arranged by John Stevenson, 1761-1833); both contributors died more than 170 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide, and the edition carries a pre-1931 United States public-domain tag.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

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Retrieved 2026-10-24. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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