To the heart of youth the world is a...

To the heart of youth the world is a highwayside.
Passing for ever, he fares; and on either hand,
Deep in the gardens golden pavilions hide,
Nestle in orchard bloom, and far on the level land
Call him with lighted lamp in the eventide.

Thick as stars at night when the moon is down,
Pleasures assail him. He to his nobler fate
Fares; and but waves a hand as he passes on,
Cries but a wayside word to her at the garden gate,
Sings but a boyish stave and his face is gone.

Translation(s): CAT GER ITA

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Authorship

• by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Youth and Love II", appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 3 [ 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 Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Youth and love", 1904, published 1907, orchestrated 1962 [voice and piano], from Songs of Travel, no. 4. [ sung text verified 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Sebastian Viebahn) , "Der Junge und die Liebe", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Lucio Forte) , "Gioventù e amore", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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Gioventù e amore

Per il cuore d'un giovane il mondo è una strada maestra.
Ed egli la percorre sempre in avanti; mentre, su entrambi i lati,
padiglioni dorati si nascondono in fondo ai giardini,
s'annidano tra i fiori degli orti e da lontano sulla pianura,
a sera, lo chiamano con le lampade accese.
 
Intensi, come luci di stelle quando la luna è tramontata,
i piaceri lo assalgono. Lui avanza verso il più nobile destino
e accenna appena un saluto con la mano mentre prosegue.
Non grida che una sola parola dalla strada, dalla porta del giardino di lei,
e non canta altro che un verso da fanciulli mentre il suo volto scompare.

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Authorship

• Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2008 by Lucio Forte, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
  
  Lucio Forte. Contact:
  <forte (DOT) lucio (AT) alice (DOT) it>
  
  
  If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact:
  
  (licenses at lieder dot net)
  
  
  
  

• a text in English by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Youth and Love II", appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 3 CAT GER
• This text was set to music by the following composer(s): Ralph Vaughan Williams. Go to the text.

Text added to the website: 2008-10-23.
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:02:59
Line count: 10
Word count: 109