by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)
In the Restaurant
Language: English
'But hear. If you stay, and the child be born, It will pass as your husband's with the rest, While, if we fly, the teeth of scorn Will be gleaming at us from east to west; And the child will come as a life despised; I feel an elopement is ill-advised!' 'O you realise not what it is, my dear, To a woman! Daily and hourly alarms Lest the truth should out. How can I stay here And nightly take him into my arms! Come to the child no name or fame, Let us go, and face it, and bear the shame.'
Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "In the Restaurant", appears in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries with Miscellaneous Pieces [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 Betty Roe (b. 1930), "In the Restaurant", published 1993 [duet for mezzo-soprano and baritone with piano], from Satires of Circumstance, no. 3. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2009-10-15
Line count: 12
Word count: 102