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by Humbert Wolfe (1885 - 1940)

Persephone
Language: English 
Come back Persephone!
  As a moonflake thin,
flutes for the dancers
  you danced with begin.

Leave the deep hellebore,
  the dark, the untranquil -
for spring's pale primrose
  and her first jonquil.

Again they are singing
  (O will you not heed them?)
with none now to answer,
  and none to lead them.

They will grow older,
  till comes a day
when the last of your maidens
  is tired of play:

when the song as it rises
  faints and droops over,
and your playmates go seeking
  a gentler lover.

Listen the dancers!
  The flutes oh listen!
Hasten Persephone!
  Persephone! Hasten!

Text Authorship:

  • by Humbert Wolfe (1885 - 1940), "Persephone", appears in The Unknown Goddess, first published 1925 [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 Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934), "Persephone", op. 48 no. 1, H. 174 no. 1 (1929), published 1930, from Twelve Humbert Wolfe Songs, no. 1. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 98

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