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by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)

The old gown
 (Sung text for setting by R. Buckle)
 Matches base text
Language: English 
I have seen her in gowns the brightest,
Of azure, green, and red,
And in the simplest, whitest,
Muslined from heel to head;
I have watched her walking, riding,
Shade-flecked by a leafy tree,
Or in fixed thought abiding
By the foam-fingered sea.

In woodlands I have known her,
When boughs were mourning loud,
In the rain-reek she has shown her
Wild-haired and watery-browed.
And once or twice she has cast me
As she pomped along the street
Court-clad, ere quite she had passed me,
A glance from her chariot-seat.

But in my memoried passion
For evermore stands she
In the gown of fading fashion
She wore that night when we,
Doomed long to part, assembled
In the snug small room; yea, when
She sang with lips that trembled,
"Shall I see his face again?"

Composition:

    Set to music by Roy Buckle (b. 1926), "The old gown"

Text Authorship:

  • by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), appears in Late Lyrics and Earlier with Many Other Verses, first published 1922

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2006-10-11
Line count: 24
Word count: 135

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