by Humbert Wolfe (1885 - 1940)
The white dress
Language: English
Some Evening when you are sitting alone, By your high window motionless and white -- I shall come by the way That none but I have known, Into the quiet room out of the night. You will know I have come, Without turning your head Because of the way the air will lie quite still, As though it waited for something to be said That no man has ever said, And no man will. But you will be wiser than the air. You know that for the thing we feel There is no word -- And you will not move Even when I turn to go, Even when the sound of my footsteps Is no longer heard.
Authorship:
- by Humbert Wolfe (1885 - 1940), "The white dress", appears in The Unknown Goddess, first published 1925 [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 John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "The white dress", published 1967. [medium voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Masters van Someren-Godfery (d. 1947), "The white dress", published 1953. [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-05-04
Line count: 18
Word count: 115