The lover mours for the loss of love | Elegy | Pale brows, still hands and dim hair

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

Pale brows, still hands and dim hair

Language: English

Available translation(s): FRE ITA

Pale brows, still hands and dim hair, 
I had a beautiful friend 
And dreamed that the old despair 
Would end in love in the end: 
She looked in my heart one day 
And saw your image was there; 
She has gone weeping away.

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: first published in Dome, May 1898 as one of the "Aodh to Dectora. Three Songs", revised 1899, revised 1906.

Confirmed with W. B. Yeats, Later Poems, Macmillan and Co., London, 1926, page 16.

Text Authorship:

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), title 1: "Aedh laments the Loss of Love", title 2: "The lover mours for the loss of love", appears in The Wind among the reeds, first published 1899 [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 Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "The lover mourns for the loss of love", published 1924 [ tenor solo, flute, English horn and string quartet ], from The Curlew, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "The lover mourns for the loss of love", 1916, published 1982, rev. 1920 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Raymond Warren (b. 1928), "Elegy", published 1964 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Raymond Warren (b. 1928), "Elegy", 1959 [ SSATB chorus a cappella ], from Irish Madrigals, cantata [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this page: David K. Smythe

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 7
Word count: 43

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