by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674)
To blossoms
Language: English
Fair pledges of a fruitful tree,
Why do ye fall so fast?
Your date is not so past
But you may stay yet here awhile
To blush and gently smile,
And go at last.
What! were ye born to be
An hour or half's delight,
And so to bid good night?
'Twas pity Nature brought you forth
Merely to show your worth
And lose you quite.
But you are lovely leaves, where we
May read how soon things have
Their end, though ne'er so brave:
And after they have shown their pride
Like you awhile, they glide
Into the grave.
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), "To blossoms" [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 Arthur Foote (1853 - 1937), "To blossoms", op. 26 (Eleven songs for voice and piano) no. 6 (1892) [ voice and piano ], Boston : A.P. Schmidt [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "To blossoms", R. 107 [ 3-part chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Samuel J. Newns (1886 - 1965), "To blossoms", published 1944 [ SSA chorus ], from Six Part Songs for SSC, no. 5, Lovedale Press [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "To blossoms", published 1920 [ voice and piano ], from English Lyrics, Twelfth Set, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Humphrey Procter-Gregg (1895 - 1980), "To blossoms" [ chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "To Blossoms", op. 488 (1957) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Hans Uwe Strübing (b. 1956), "To blossoms", op. 81 no. 2 (2005-6) [ soprano and piano ], from Vier englische Lieder für Sopran und Klavier, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Maude Valérie White (1855 - 1937), "To blossoms", published 1879 [ voice and piano ], from Two Songs, no. 1, London: Stanley Lucas, Weber & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by (James) Healey Willan (1880 - 1968), "To blossoms" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Mabel Nightingale Woodward (1876 - 1911), "To Blossoms", published 1912 [ voice and piano ], from Songs, no. 9, Birmingham : Press of the Birmingham Printers [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-09
Line count: 18
Word count: 100