Three Songs

Leans now the fair willow, dreaming
Amid her locks of green.
In the driving snow she was parched and cold,
And in midnight hath been
Swept by blasts of the void night,
Lashed by the rains.
Now of that wintry dark and bleak
No memory remains.

In mute desire she sways softly;
Thrilling sap up-flows;
She praises God in her beauty and grace,
Whispers delight. And there flows
A delicate wind from the Southern seas,
Kissing her leaves. She sighs.
While the birds in her tresses make merry;
Burns the Sun in the skies.

Text Authorship:

• by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "The willow", appears in The Veil and Other Poems, first published 1922

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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.

Confirmed with Walter De la Mare, The Veil and other Poems, New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1922, page 10.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

     Never, no never, listen too long,
To the chattering wind in the willow, the night bird's song.

     'Tis sad in sooth to lie under the grass,
But none too gladsome to wake and grow cold where life's shadows pass.

     Dumb the old Toll-Woman squats,
And, for every green copper battered and worn, doles out Nevers and Nots.

     I know a Blind Man, too,
Who with a sharp ear listens and listens the whole world through.

     Oh, sit we snug to our feast,
With platter and finger and spoon - and good victuals at least.

Text Authorship:

• by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), as Walter de la Mare, "The Fool’s Song", appears in The Sunken Garden and Other Poems, first published 1917

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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.

Confirmed with Walter De la Mare, The Sunken Garden and Other Poems, Beaumont Press, London, 1917, page 26.

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

Had the gods loved me I had lain
Where darnel is, and thorn,
And the wild night-bird's nightlong strain
Trembles in boughs forlorn.

Nay, but they loved me not; and I
Must needs a stranger be,
Whose every exiled day gone by
Aches with their memory.

Text Authorship:

• by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Exile", appears in The Listeners and Other Poems, first published 1912

See other settings of this text.

Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]