Pale brows, still hands and dim hair, 
I had a beautiful friend 
And dreamed that the old despair 
Would end in love in the end: 
She looked in my heart one day 
And saw your image was there; 
She has gone weeping away.

Note: first published in Dome, May 1898 as one of the "Aodh to Dectora. Three Songs", revised 1899, revised 1906.

Composition:

Set to music by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "The lover mourns for the loss of love", published 1924 [ tenor solo, flute, English horn and string quartet ], from The Curlew, no. 2

Text Authorship:

• by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), title 1: "Aedh laments the Loss of Love", title 2: "The lover mours for the loss of love", appears in The Wind among the reeds, first published 1899

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "L'amore perduto", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David K. Smythe

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 7
Word count: 43