Denny's daughter stood a minute in the field I be to pass, All as quiet as her shadow lyin' by her on the grass; In her hand a switch o' hazel from the nut tree's crooked root, Well I mind the crown o' clover crumpled under one bare foot. For the look of her, The look of her, Comes back on me today, Wi' the eyes of her, The eyes of her That took me on the way. Though I seen poor Denny's daughter white an' stiff upon her bed, Yet I be to think there's sunlight fallin' somewhere on her head; She'll be singin' Ave Mary where the flowers never wilt, She, the girl my own hands covered wi' the narrow daisy-quilt. For the love of her, The love of her That would not be my wife; An' the loss of her, The loss of her Has left me lone for life.
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Authorship:
- by Agnes Shakespeare Higginson (1864 - 1955), as Moira O'Neill [author's text not yet checked 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 Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "Denny's Daughter", op. 174 no. 1, published 1908 [ voice and piano ], from Six Songs from "The Glens of Antrim", no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Wood (1866 - 1926), "Denny's Daughter", published 1927 [ low voice and piano ], from Ten Songs for Low Voice, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 153