Had I the [heavens']1 embroidered cloths
Enwrought with golden and silver light
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

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View original text (without footnotes)
Original title is "Aedh wishes for the cloths of heaven"; revised 1906; re-titled "He wishes for the cloths of heaven".

Confirmed with W. B. Yeats, Later Poems, Macmillan and Co., London, 1926, page 45.

¹ Gurney: "Heaven's"

Text Authorship:

• by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), title 1: "Aedh wishes for the cloths of heaven", title 2: "He wishes for the cloths of heaven", appears in The Wind among the reeds, first published 1899 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Frederic Austin (1872 - 1952), "Aedh wished for the cloths of heaven", published 1920 [ medium voice and piano ], from Love's Pilgrimage [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "He wishes for the cloths of heaven", 2007 [ medium voice and piano ], also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Herbert Bedford (1867 - 1945), "Aedh wished for the Cloths of Heaven", published 1922 [ voice, unaccompanied ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Brian Boydell (1917 - 2000), "The cloths of heaven", 1965 [ soprano and Irish harp or orchestra ], from Three Yeats Songs [sung text not yet checked]
• by William Denis Browne (1888 - 1915), "Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths", 1909 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Colin Brumby (b. 1933), "The cloths of heaven", published 1961 [ SSA chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Wallace Carter (1929 - 1991), "The cloths of heaven", published 1968 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979), "The cloths of heaven", 1912?, published 1920 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Thomas Frederick Dunhill (1877 - 1946), "The cloths of heaven", published 1905 [ voice and piano ], from The wind among the reeds, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Lowell Dykstra (b. 1952), "He wishes for the cloths of heaven", 1998, published 2001, first performed 2000 [ baritone and piano ], from Youth and Age, no. 5, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Steven Ebel , "Heavens' cloths", 2011 [ high voice and string quartet ], from Irish Lullabies, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Joseph Eidson , "Aedh wishes for the cloths of heaven ", 2013 [ soprano (or tenor) and piano ], from Amhráin as an Linn Dubh. Songs From the Black Pool , no. 7 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Dilys Elwyn-Edwards, née Roberts (b. 1918), "The cloths of heaven " [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Richard B. Evans , "He wishes for the cloths of heaven ", from In the deep heart's core [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "The cloths of heaven", 1920, published 1979 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Maitland Harvey , "He wishes for the cloths of heaven", 1965 [ bass and piano ], from Four Songs of Yeats [sung text not yet checked]
• by Paavo Heininen (b. 1938), "The cloths of heaven", op. 19 no. 1 (1968), first performed 1979, orchestrated 1994 [ voice and piano ], from Love's Philosophy, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gordon Kerry (b. 1961), "He wishes for the cloths of heaven", 1999 [ mezzo-soprano and viola ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961), "He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven", op. 40 no. 6 (1993) [ tenor, flute, string quartet, and piano ], from A Poet to His Beloved, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Nicholas Marshall (b. 1942), "He wishes for the cloths of heaven" [ high voice, treble recorder, violoncello, harpsichord ], from The falling of the leaves [sung text not yet checked]
• by Kevin Puts (b. 1972), "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" [ bass-baritone, flute, violin, cello, piano ], from In at the Eye, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Had I The Heavens' Embroidered Cloths", op. 479 (1956) [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hugh Stevenson Roberton, Sir (1874 - 1952), "Cloths of heaven", published 1944 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Richard Roderick-Jones (b. 1947), "He wishes for the cloths of heaven", 1966 [ soprano and piano ], from The wind among the reeds [sung text not yet checked]
• by Landon Ronald, Sir (1873 - 1938), "Aedh wished for the cloths of heaven", <<1924 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Douglas MacDonald Stewart (1892 - ?), "Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths ", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Kenneth Tavener (1944 - 2013), "He wishes for the cloths of heaven" [ soprano, flute, harp, viola ], from To a child dancing in the wind, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Kenneth Tavener (1944 - 2013), "He wishes for the cloths of heaven" [ soprano, flute, harp, viola ], from To a child dancing in the wind, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Clyde Van Nuys Fogel , "Aedh wished for the cloths of heaven", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "The cloths of heaven", 1916, published 1982, from The Curlew, no. 3, revised 1919 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Bertram Kottmann , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission ; composed by Gary Bachlund.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Tamás Rédey) , copyright © 2015, (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: 8
Word count: 60

Hätt' ich der Himmel besticktes Tuch,
durchwoben von Gold- und Silberlicht,
das blaue, verblasste, dunkle Tuch
aus Abend-, Dämmer-, Tageslicht,
dann würd’ ich es breiten unter dir:
Doch arm, der ich bin, hab ich nur meinen Traum,
den ich gebreitet hab unter dir;
behutsam - du wandelst auf meinem Traum.