When you shall see me in the toils of Time, My lauded beauties carried off from me, My eyes no longer stars as in their prime, My name forgot of Maiden Fair and Free; When, in your being, heart concedes to mind, And judgment, though you scarce its process know, Recalls the excellencies I once enshrined, And you are irked that they have withered so; Remembering mine the loss is, not the blame, That Sportsman Time but rears his brood to kill, Knowing me in my soul the very same One who would die to spare you touch of ill! Will you not grant to old affection's claim The hand of friendship down Life's sunless hill?
Shut out that moon
Song Cycle by Gordon Ware Binkerd (1916 - 2003)
1. She, to him I  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), no title, appears in Wessex Poems and Other Verses, in She, to Him, no. 1, first published 1898
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. Shut out that moon  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Close up the casement, draw the blind, Shut out that stealing moon, She wears too much the guise she wore Before our lutes were strewn With years-deep dust, and names we read On a white stone were hewn. Step not out on the dew-dashed lawn To view the Lady's Chair, Immense Orion's glittering form, The Less' and Greater Bear: Stay in; to such sights we were drawn When faded ones were fair. Brush not the bough for midnight scents That come forth lingeringly, And wake the same sweet sentiments They breathed to you and me When living seemed a laugh, and love All it was said to be. Within the common lamp-lit room Prison my eyes and thought; Let dingy details crudely loom, Mechanic speech be wrought: Too fragrant was Life's early bloom, Too tart the fruit it brought!
Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "Shut out that moon", appears in Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses, first published 1909
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]3. A bygone occasion  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
That night, that night, That song, that song! Will such again be evened quite Through lifetimes long? No mirth was shown To outer seers, But mood to match has not been known In modern years. O eyes that smiled, O lips that lured; That such would last was one beguiled To think ensured! That night, that night, That song, that song; O drink to its recalled delight, Its praise prolong! O drink to its recalled delight, Though tears may throng!
Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "A bygone occasion", appears in Late Lyrics and Earlier with Many Other Verses, first published 1922
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]4. The riddle  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Stretching eyes west Over the sea, Wind foul or fair, Always stood she Prospect-impressed; Solely out there Did her gaze rest, Never elsewhere Seemed charm to be. Always eyes east Ponders she now - As in devotion - Hills of blank brow Where no waves plough. Never the least Room for emotion Drawn from the ocean Does she allow.
Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "The riddle", appears in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses, first published 1917
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]Total word count: 394