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Down by the Salley Gardens my love and I did meet; She passed the Salley Gardens with little snow-white feet. She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree; But I, being young and foolish, with her did not agree. In a field by the river my love and I did stand, And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand. She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs; But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.
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• B. Britten • R. Clarke • J. Edmunds • G. Finzi • I. Gurney • J. IrelandAbout the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotesRetitled "Down by the Salley Gardens" with the subtitle "An old song re-sung" when republished in Poems in 1895.
Note: "salley" is an anglicized form of the Irish word "saileach", which means willow.
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), title 1: "An old song re-sung", title 2: "Down by the Salley Gardens", appears in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, first published 1889 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]
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Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 94
Unten bei den Salley-Gärten traf ich mich mit meiner Geliebten; Sie durchlief die Salley-Gärten auf ihren schneeweißen Füßchen. Sie bat mich, die Liebe so leicht zu nehmen, wie Blätter auf den Bäumen wachsen; Aber ich, der ich jung und töricht war, war nicht mit ihr einverstanden. In einem Felde bei dem Flusse stand ich mit meiner Geliebten, Und auf meine gebeugte Schulter legte sie ihre schneeweiße Hand. Sie bat mich, das Leben so leicht zu nehmen, wie das Gras beim Wehre wächst; Aber ich war jung und töricht, und bin jetzt voller Tränen.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotesTranslated titles:
"But I was young and foolish" = "Aber ich war jung und töricht"
"Down by the Salley Gardens" = "Unten bei den Salley-Gärten "
"The Salley Gardens" = "Die Salley-Gärten"
"I was young and foolish" = "Ich war jung und töricht"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2015 by Sharon Krebs, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in English by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), title 1: "An old song re-sung", title 2: "Down by the Salley Gardens", appears in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, first published 1889
Go to the general view
This text was added to the website: 2015-08-20
Line count: 8
Word count: 94