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by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)

I need not go
 (Sung text for setting by G. Finzi)
 Matches base text
Language: English 
I need not go
Through sleet and snow
To where I know
She waits for me;
She will tarry me there
Till I find it fair,
And have time to spare
From company.

When I've overgot
The world somewhat,
When things cost not
Such stress and strain,
Is soon enough
By cypress sough
To tell my Love
I am come again.

And if  someday,
When none cries nay,
I still delay
To seek her side,
(Though ample measure
Of fitting leisure
Await my pleasure)
She will not chide.

What not upbraid me
That I delayed me,
Nor ask what stayed me
So long? Ah no!
New cares may claim me,
New loves inflame me,
She will not blame me,
But suffer it so.

Composition:

    Set to music by Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), "I need not go", op. 19b no. 1, published 1958 [ low voice and piano ], from I said to love, no. 1

Text Authorship:

  • by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), no title, appears in Poems of the Past and Present, first published 1902

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 123

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