by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)
At Day‑Close in November
Language: English
The ten hours' light is abating, And a late bird wings across, Where the pines, like waltzers waiting, Give their black heads a toss. Beech leaves, that yellow the noon-time, Float past like specks in the eye; I set every tree in my June time, And now they obscure the sky. And the children who ramble through here Conceive that there never has been A time when no tall trees grew here, That none will in time be seen.
Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "At Day-Close in November", appears in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries with Miscellaneous Pieces, first published 1914 [author's text not yet checked 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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "At Day-Close in November", op. 52 no. 1 (1953), published 1954 [ high voice and piano ], from Winter words, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Arnold Atkinson Cooke (1906 - 2005), "At Day-Close in November" [ baritone, piano ], from Country Songs [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Christopher Park) , "À la tombée du jour en novembre", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Novembertages Ende", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , "Novembertags Ende", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 79