by Charles Hanson Towne (1877 - 1949)
If one should ask of me, when all afire
Language: English
If one should ask of me, when all afire My ravished heart might be, "What is thy wish, thine utmost dear desire -- One draught from some cool spring to drain, or her white face to see?" -- I should make answer, though I fainted sore, Tho' my pale lips were dry, "Let me behold her, ere I pass the Door; Let me drink of her pool-deep eyes -- drink love, drink love -- and die!"
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Charles Hanson Towne, The Quiet Singer And Other Poems, New York, B. W. Dodge & Company, 1908, page 112.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Hanson Towne (1877 - 1949), no title, appears in The Quiet Singer and Other Poems, in Songs out of the Orient, in 84. A Baghdad Lover (Being Certain Fragments from Scheherazade’s Songs in “The Thousand and One Nights”), no. 4 [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 Blair Fairchild (1877 - 1933), "If One Should Ask", op. 25 no. 4, published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from A Baghdad lover, no. 4, New York : H.W. Gray [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2023-02-03
Line count: 9
Word count: 72