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A pity beyond all telling Is hid in the heart of love: The [folk]1 who are buying and selling, The clouds on their journey above, The cold, wet winds ever blowing, And the shadowy hazel grove Where mouse-grey waters are flowing Threaten the head that I love.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Grill: "folks"
Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "The pity of love", appears in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics, first published 1892 [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 Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "The Pity of Love", copyright © 1987 [ soprano and string quartet ], from To a Child, no. 8, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ruth Schonthal (1924 - 2006), "A pity beyond all telling", 1949 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Nine Lyric Dramatic Songs, no. 2, Furore Edition [sung text not yet checked]
- by Raymond Warren (b. 1928), "The pity of love", 1965 [ tenor and guitar ], from The Pity of Love [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La pitié de l'amour", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , "Trua an Ghrá", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-20
Line count: 8
Word count: 47
Une pitié au-delà de toute parole Est cachée dans le cœur de l'amour : Les gens qui achètent et vendent, Les nuages dans leur voyage en haut, Les vents froids et humides qui soufflent toujours, Et le bosquet ombragé de noisetiers Où les eaux gris souris coulent, Menacent la tête que j'aime.
Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2016 by Guy Laffaille, (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.
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Based on:
- a text in English by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "The pity of love", appears in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics, first published 1892
This text was added to the website: 2016-12-13
Line count: 8
Word count: 52