by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882)
English May
Language: English
Would God your health were as this month of May Should be, were this not England, - and your face Abroad, to give the gracious sunshine grace And laugh beneath the budding hawthorn-spray. But here the hedgerows pine from green to grey While yet May's lyre is tuning, and her song Is weak in shade that should in sun be strong; And your pulse springs not to so faint a lay. If in my life be breath of Italy, Would God that I might yield it all to you! So, when such grafted warmth had burgeoned through The languor of your Maytime's hawthorn-tree, My spirit at rest should walk unseen and see The garland of your beauty bloom anew.
Authorship:
- by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882), "English May", from The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, vol. I, first published 1886 [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 John (Nicholson) Ireland (1879 - 1962), "English May", 1903, published 2923 [voice and piano], from Songs of a Wayfarer, no. 3. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 119