by Arlo Bates (1850 - 1918)
The Foxglove
Language: English
In grandmamma's garden in shining rows, The box smells sweet as it trimly grows ; The sun-dial quaint the hours tells, 'Mid foxgloves tall with spotted bells ; And all is dear, and all is fair, As childhood's self had dwelling there. In grandmamma's garden a child I played With naught save bees to make afraid ; I counted the spots on the foxglove's cheek, And knew it could tell, if it [would but]1 speak, [How cunning fairies painted them And made each like a shining gem.]2 In grandmamma's garden the foxgloves gay With every wind would nod and sway ; Full well I knew that they were wise, And watched with childhood's eager eyes To see them whisper each to each, And catch the secrets of their speech. In grandmamma's garden still I walk, And still the foxgloves seem to talk. Their speech not yet my manhood learns, But when I see them youth returns ; I wonder at them still in vain, But with them am a child again.
A. Foote sets stanzas 1-3
1 Foote: "could"
2 Foote: "How cunning fairies in the night/ had painted each by faint starlight."
Authorship:
- by Arlo Bates (1850 - 1918), "The Foxglove", appears in The Poet and His Self, in A Flower Cycle, no. 6, first published 1892 [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 George Whitefield Chadwick (1854 - 1931), "The Foxglove", 1892 [ voice and piano ], from A Flower Cycle, no. 7 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Arthur Foote (1853 - 1937), "The Foxglove", op. 49 no. 3, published 1902, stanzas 1-3 [ voice and piano ], from Flower Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler
This text was added to the website: 2009-06-17
Line count: 24
Word count: 171