O lurcher-loving collier, black as night,
Follow your love across the smokeless hill;
Your lamp is out, the cages are all still;
Course for heart and do not miss,
For Sunday soon is past and, Kate, fly not so fast,
For Monday comes when none may kiss:
Be marble to his soot, and to his black be white.

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First published in New Verse, Summer 1938, as part of a documentary script titled "Coal Face"; Revised 1945.

Text Authorship:

• by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), "Madrigal", written 1935 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2012-06-18
Line count: 7
Word count: 61