I went to the Garden of Love, and saw what I never had seen: A chapel was built in the midst, where I used to play on the green. And the gates of this chapel were shut, and "Thou shalt not" writ over the door; So I turn'd to the Garden of Love, that so many, many sweet flowers bore; And I saw it was filled with graves, and tombstones where flowers should be; and priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, and binding with briars my joys and desires.
The Garden of Love
Song Cycle by David Campbell Dorward (b. 1933)
?. The Garden of Love  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The Garden of Love", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 16, first published 1794
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , "Der Garten der Liebe", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Total word count: 91