Warm are the still and lucky miles, White shores of longing stretch away, A light of recognition fills The whole great day, and bright The tiny world of lover's arms. Silence invades the breating wood Where drowsy limbs a treasure keep, Now greenly falls the learned shade Across the sleeping brows And stirs ther secret to a smile. Restored! Returned! The lost are borne On seas of shipwreck home at last: See! In a fire of praising burns The dry dumb past, and we Our life-day long shall part no more.
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Text Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), "Song", appears in Another Time, first published 1940 [author's text not yet checked 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 Rudolf Escher (1912 - 1980), "Warm are the still and lucky miles", 1975, from Three poems by W.H. Auden, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ronald Senator (b. 1926), "Warm are the still and lucky miles" [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Summer soon is past [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Jeroen Scholten
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 91