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by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

Nature
 (Sung text for setting by R. Stöhr)
 Matches original text
Language: English 
As a fond mother, when the day is o'er,
  Leads by the hand her little child to bed,
  Half willing, half reluctant to be led,
  And leave his broken playthings on the floor,
Still gazing at them through the open door,
  Nor wholly reassured and comforted
  By promises of others in their stead,
  Which, though more splendid, may not please him more;
So Nature deals with us, and takes away
  Our playthings one by one, and by the hand
  Leads us to rest so gently, that we go
Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay,
  Being too full of sleep to understand
  How far the unknown transcends the what we know.

Composition:

    Set to music by Richard Stöhr (1874 - 1967), "Nature", op. 104a (Ten Songs) no. 10 (1944), published 2015 [ voice and piano ], unpublished; manuscript at Saint Michael's College Archives and available in scanned form at the Petrucci Music Library

Text Authorship:

  • by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882), "Nature", appears in Masque of Pandora and Other Poems, first published 1875

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-06-20
Line count: 14
Word count: 113

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