by Adelaide Anne Procter (1825 - 1864)
All yesterday I was spinning
Language: English
All yesterday I was spinning, Sitting alone in the sun; And the dream that I spun was so lengthy, It lasted till day was done. I heeded not cloud or shadow That flitted over the hill, Or the humming-bees, or the swallows, Or the trickling of the rill. I took the threads for my spinning, All of blue summer air, And a flickering ray of sunlight Was woven in here and there. The shadows grew longer and longer, The evening wind passed by, And the purple splendour of sunset Was flooding the western sky. But I could not leave my spinning, For so fair my dream had grown. I heeded not, hour by hour, How the silent day had flown. At last the grey shadows fell round me, And the night came dark and chill, And I rose and ran down the valley, And left it all on the hill. I went up the hill this morning To the place where my spinning lay— There was nothing but glistening dewdrops Remained of my dream to-day.
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Text Authorship:
- by Adelaide Anne Procter (1825 - 1864), "A Dream" [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 Ellen Dickson (1819 - 1878), as Dolores, "The Dream", published 1861 [ voice and piano ], London [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2023-07-06
Line count: 28
Word count: 175