by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)
The selfsame song
Language: English
A bird bills the selfsame song, With never a fault in its flow, That we listened to here those long Long years ago. A pleasing marvel is how A strain of such rapturous rote Should have gone on thus till now Unchanged in a note! -- But it's not the selfsame bird. -- No: perished to dust is he.... As also are those who heard That song with me.
View text with all available footnotes
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "The selfsame song" [author's text checked 1 time 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 John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "The selfsame song", op. 235 no. 1, published 1997 [ SATB chorus, treble recorder, and violoncello ], from Four Songs to poems by Thomas Hardy, no. 1, West Yorkshire : Peacock Press [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-01-07
Line count: 12
Word count: 68