My lord is gone away to serve the King. The pigeons homing at the set of sun Are side by side upon the courtyard wall, And far away I hear the herdsmen call The goats upon the hill when day is done. But I, I know not when he will come home. I live the days alone. My lord is gone away to serve the King. I hear a pigeon stirring in the nest, And in the field a pheasant crying late. –She has not far to go to find her mate. There is a hunger will not let me rest. The days have grown to months and months to years, And I have no more tears.
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Confirmed with Lyrics from the Chinese by Helen Waddell, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913, page 23.
Authorship:
- by Helen Jane Waddell (1889 - 1965), no title, appears in Lyrics from the Chinese, first published 1913 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , written 769 BCE [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "My lord is gone away to serve the King", op. 125 (Ten Songs in Two Sets of Five Each, Set II) no. 5 (1938) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2022-01-21
Line count: 14
Word count: 117