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by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)
Translation © by Sharon Krebs
Down by the Salley Gardens my love and I...
Language: English
Down by the Salley Gardens my love and I did meet; She passed the Salley Gardens with little snow-white feet. She bid me take [love]1 easy, as the leaves grow on the [tree]2; But I, being young and foolish, with her [did]3 not agree. In a field by the river my love and I did stand, And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand. She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs; But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Retitled "Down by the Salley Gardens" with the subtitle "An old song re-sung" when republished in Poems in 1895.
Note: "salley" is an anglicized form of the Irish word "saileach", which means willow.
1 Gurney: "life"2 Edmunds: "trees"
3 Edmunds, Gurney: "would"
Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), title 1: "An old song re-sung", title 2: "Down by the Salley Gardens", appears in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, first published 1889 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Samuel Hans Adler (b. 1928), "But I was young and foolish", 1954 [ baritone and piano ], from Three Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Allan Blank (b. 1925), "Down by the Salley Gardens" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by James Brash , "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1945 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "The Salley Gardens", published 1943 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Alan Dudley Bush (1900 - 1995), "Down by the Salley Gardens" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979), "Down by the Salley Gardens", 1919, published 1924 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Judith Cloud , "The Salley Gardens" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by June Harple Collins (b. 1915?), "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1929 [ baritone (or vocal duet for alto and baritone) with piano ], from Two Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alan DeBeer , "Down by the Salley Gardens", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alice Decevee (b. 1904), "Down by the Salley Gardens", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Edmunds (1913 - 1986), "The Salley Gardens" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Elaine M. Erickson (b. 1941), "Down by the Salley Gardens" [ soprano or tenor and strings ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), "The Salley Gardens" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "Down by the Salley Gardens", 1920, published 1938 [ voice and piano ], from A First Volume of Ten Songs, no. 4, London: Oxford University Press [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Irvin Hinchliffe , "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1931, copyright © 1943 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Herbert Hughes (1882 - 1937), "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1909 [ voice and piano ], note: an arrangement based on a traditional air called "The Maids of the Mourne Shore" [sung text not yet checked]
- by John (Nicholson) Ireland (1879 - 1962), "The Salley Gardens", 1929-31, published 1934 [ voice and piano ], from Songs Sacred and Profane, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by John Jeffreys (1927 - 2010), "The Salley Gardens" [ voice and piano ], several settings [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Jeffreys (1927 - 2010), "I was young and foolish" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ellen Mandel , "Down by the Salley Gardens" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Diana Methold , "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1937 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mary Plumstead (1905 - 1980), "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1951 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Irena Regina Poldowski, née Wieniawski (1880 - 1932), "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1900 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Leon Rollin (b. 1947), "Down by the Salley Gardens" [ baritone, flute, oboe, piano ], from Four Songs of Dreams and Love [sung text not yet checked]
- by Martin Edward Fallas Shaw (1875 - 1958), "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1919 [ baritone voices and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henry Stanley Taylor , "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1963 [ voice and piano (or harp) with recorder ad libitum ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRI Frisian (Geart van der Meer) , "Bij de marswâl", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 91
Unten bei den Salley‑Gärten traf ich...
Language: German (Deutsch) after the English
Unten bei den Salley-Gärten traf ich mich mit meiner Geliebten; Sie durchlief die Salley-Gärten auf ihren schneeweißen Füßchen. Sie bat mich, [die Liebe]1 so leicht zu nehmen, wie Blätter auf den Bäumen wachsen; Aber ich, der ich jung und töricht war, war nicht mit ihr einverstanden. In einem Felde bei dem Flusse stand ich mit meiner Geliebten, Und auf meine gebeugte Schulter legte sie ihre schneeweiße Hand. Sie bat mich, das Leben so leicht zu nehmen, wie das Gras beim Wehre wächst; Aber ich war jung und töricht, und bin jetzt voller Tränen.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Translated titles:
"But I was young and foolish" = "Aber ich war jung und töricht"
"Down by the Salley Gardens" = "Unten bei den Salley-Gärten "
"The Salley Gardens" = "Die Salley-Gärten"
"I was young and foolish" = "Ich war jung und töricht"
1 Gurney: "das Leben"
Authorship:
- Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2015 by Sharon Krebs, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact:
Based on:
- a text in English by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), title 1: "An old song re-sung", title 2: "Down by the Salley Gardens", appears in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, first published 1889
This text was added to the website: 2015-08-20
Line count: 8
Word count: 93