by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

Wasted days
Language: English 
A fair slim boy not made for this world’s pain,
   With hair of gold thick clustering round his ears,
   And longing eyes half veiled by foolish tears
Like bluest water seen through mists of rain;
Pale cheeks whereon no kiss hath left its stain,
   Red under-lip drawn in for fear of Love,
   And white throat, whiter than the breast of dove—
Alas! alas! if all should be in vain.
Corn-fields behind, and reapers all a-row
In weariest labour, toiling wearily,
To no sweet sound of laughter, or of lute;
And careless of the crimson sunset-glow,
The boy still dreams; nor knows that night is nigh,
And in the night-time no man gathers fruit.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   G. Medlock 

View text with all available footnotes

Confirmed with Oscar Wilde, The annotated Oscar Wilde: poems, fictions, plays, lectures, essays, and letters, New York: C.N. Potter, distributed by Crown Publishers, 1982, page 44.


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


Researcher for this page: Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2025-08-28
Line count: 14
Word count: 114