by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917)
Today I think
Language: English
Today I think only with scents, -- scents dead leaves yield, And bracken, and wild carrot's seed, And the square mustard field; Odours that rise When the spade wounds the root of tree, Rose, currant, raspberry, or goutweed, Rhubarb or celery; The smoke's smell, too, Flowing from where a bonfire burns The dead, the waste, 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 mirth.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotesAuthorship:
- 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: 82