by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
Others, I am not the first
Language: English
Others, I am not the first, Have willed more mischief than they durst: If in the breathless night I too Shiver now, 'tis nothing new. More than I, if truth were told, Have stood and sweated hot and cold, And through their reins in ice and fire Fear contended with desire. Agued once like me were they, But I like them shall win my way Lastly to the bed of mould Where there's neither heat nor cold. But from my grave across my brow Plays no wind of healing now, And fire and ice within me fight Beneath the suffocating night.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in A Shropshire Lad, no. 30, first published 1896 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Robert F. Baksa (b. 1938), "Others, I am not the first", from Housman Songs, no. 6. [text not verified]
- by Alan Leichtling , "Others, I am not the first", published 1971 [baritone and orchestra], from Eleven Songs from "A Shropshire Lad" [text not verified]
- by John Ramsden Williamson (1929 - 2015), "Others, I am not the first" [baritone and piano] [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2004-12-28
Line count: 16
Word count: 101