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by Thomas Hood (1799 - 1845)

O Lady, leave thy silken thread
Language: English 
O Lady, leave [thy]1 silken thread
And flowery tapestrie:
There's living roses on the bush,
And blossoms on the tree;
Stoop where thou wilt, thy careless hand
Some random bud will meet;
Thou canst not tread, but thou wilt find
The daisy at thy feet.

'Tis like the birthday of the world,
When earth was born in bloom;
The light is made of many dyes,
The air is all perfume;
There's crimson buds, and white and blue --
The very rainbow showers
Have turn'd to blossoms where they fell,
And sown the earth with flowers.

There's fairy tulips in the east,
The garden of the sun;
The very streams reflect the hues,
And blossom as they run:
While Morn opes like a crimson rose,
Still wet with pearly showers;
Then, lady, leave the silken thread
Thou twinest into flowers!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Holst: "that"; further changes may exist not shown above.

Text Authorship:

  • by Thomas Hood (1799 - 1845), "Song", first published 1846 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "The silken thread", published 1899 [SATB chorus a cappella], Glasgow, Bayley & Ferguson [
     text not verified 
    ]
  • by Eleanor Everest Freer (1864 - 1942), "Song", op. 4 no. 6, published 1905 [voice and piano], from A Book of Songs, no. 6. [
     text not verified 
    ]
  • by Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934), "O Lady, leave that silken thread", H. 4 no. 2 (1895). [SSATBB chorus a cappella] [
     text not verified 
    ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-09-15
Line count: 24
Word count: 139

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