A traveller from the far off south lands I set out as a crescent moon rose. In a journey all distances I saw clear moonlight three times full, Trailed an old moon away at dawn, Then met a new one for the night. Who says the moon is heartless, It's followed, it's followed me a thousand miles Leaving a Wei riverbridge early, I'm in changing streets by dusk, But this moon keeps on trav'lling, Stays the night who knows where?
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Authorship:
- possibly by Arthur Waley (1889 - 1969) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Bai Juyi (772 - 846) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Kenneth Hesketh (b. 1968), "Travelling Moon", first performed 2007 [ voice and piano ], from Shimmerwords and Idle Songs, no. 1, confirmed with a concert programme booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2018-01-25
Line count: 12
Word count: 80