O herdsman, driving your slow twilight flock 
  By darkening meadow and hedge and grassy rath, 
The trees stand shuddering as you pass by, 
  The suddenly falling silence is your path. 

Over my [heart the shadows too]1 are creeping, 
  But on my heart for ever they will lie. 
O happy meadow and trees and raths and hedges, 
  The twilight and all its flock will pass you by.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
Titled "The shadows" in some publications
¹ Moeran: "heart too, the shadows"

Text Authorship:

• by Seumas O'Sullivan (1879 - 1958), "The herdsman", appears in The Twilight People, first published 1905 [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 H. Grant Fletcher (b. 1913), "The shadows", published 1942. [SATB chorus a cappella] [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Frederick M. May (1911 - 1985), "The herdsman" [voice and piano] [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "The herdsman", R. 85 no. 6 (1944), published 1946 [high voice or medium voice and piano], from Six Poems by Seumas O'Sullivan, no. 6. [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-02-03
Line count: 8
Word count: 67