Knew not the Sun, sweet Violet,
The while he gleaned the snow,
That thou in darkness [sepulchred]1,
Wast slumbering below?
Or spun a splendour of surprise
Around him to behold [thee]2 rise?

Saw not the Star, sweet Violet,
What time a drop of dew
Let fall his image from the sky
Into thy deeper blue?
Nor waxed he tremulous and dim
When rival Dawn supplanted him?

And dreamest thou, sweet Violet,
That I, the vanished Star,
The Dewdrop, and the morning Sun
Thy closest kinsmen are -
So near that, waking or asleep,
We each and all thine image keep?

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with John B. Tabb, Poems by John B. Tabb, London: John Lane, Boston: Copeland and Day, Cambridge: University Press/John Wilson and Son, 1894, page 31.

¹ omitted by Fairchild
² Fairchild: "him"

Text Authorship:

• by John Banister Tabb (1845 - 1909), "Brotherhood", first published 1894 [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 Blair Fairchild (1877 - 1933), "Brotherhood", op. 13 no. 3. [vocal duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano with piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-03-05
Line count: 18
Word count: 102