Butterfly Dreams

by John Kenneth Tavener (1944 - 2013)

1. Butterfly dreams
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I do not know whether I was then 
a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
or whether I am now a butterfly
dreaming I am a man.

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  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

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2. Over the Dianthus
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Over the Dianthus. See.
A white butterfly,
whose soul I wonder.

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  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

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3. Butterfly in my hand
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Butterfly in my hand,
as if it were a spirit,
unearthly,
insubstantial.

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4. The flying butterfly
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
The flying butterfly,
I feel myself a creature of dust.

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5. It has no voice
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
It has no voice,
the butterfly,
whose dream of flowers I fain would hear.

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  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

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6. The butterfly
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
The last, the very last
 [ ... ]

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7. Butterfly song
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Butterfly, butterfly, butterfly, butterfly,
Oh, look, see it hovering among the flowers,
It is like a baby trying to walk and not knowing how to go.
The clouds sprinkle down the rain.

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  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

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8. Butterfly dreams
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I do not know whether I was then 
a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
or whether I am now a butterfly
dreaming I am a man.

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 230