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by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917)

Today I think
Language: English 
Today I think 
only [with]1 scents, -- scents dead leaves yield,
[And]2 bracken, [and]2 wild [carrot's]3 seed, 
And the square mustard field;

[Odours that rise]4 
When the spade wounds the [root]5 of tree,
Rose, currant, raspberry, [or]2 goutweed,
Rhubarb [or]2 celery;

The smoke's smell, too,
[Flowing from where a]6 bonfire burns 
[The dead, the waste]7, the dangerous,
And all to sweetness turns.

It is enough 
To smell, to crumble the dark earth,
While the Robin sings over again
Sad songs of [Autumn]8 mirth.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   I. Gurney 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Gurney: "of"
2 omitted by Gurney.
3 Gurney: "carrot"
4 Gurney: "Scents that arise"
5 Gurney: "roots"
6 Gurney: "Blowing from where the"
7 Gurney: "The waste, the dead"
8 Gurney: "winter"

Text Authorship:

  • by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917), "Digging I" [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 Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "Scents", 1920, published 1926 [ voice and piano ], from Lights Out, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: David Kenneth Smith

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 94

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