I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped.
I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
[“It is futile,” I said,]1
“You can never -- ”

“You lie,” he cried,
And ran [on]2.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Lindsay: "I said, “It is futile,”"
² Lidnsay: "on and on"

Text Authorship:

• by Stephen Crane (1871 - 1900), no title, appears in The Black Riders and Other Lines, no. 24, first published 1895 [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 Cees van As (1946 - 1986), "I saw a man", op. 2 no. 1, published 1982 [ female voice and piano ], from Mysteries, no. 1, Amsterdam: Donemus Publishing [sung text not yet checked]
• by Richard Hermann , "I saw a man pursuing the horizon", 2007, from Four Song from Steven Crane, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joshua Alan Lindsay (b. 1988), "[I]. Futility", 2008-9, first performed 2009 [ tenor or high voice and piano ], from Of snow, ice, burning sand, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Richard Owen (b. 1922?), "I saw a man pursuing the horizon", published 1966 [ high voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by David Sisco , "I saw a man pursuing the horizon", 1999 [ baritone and piano ], from Five Stephen Crane Poems, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Pasquale J. Spino (b. 1942), "I saw a man" [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Six Poetic Songs [was Five Poetic Songs] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Paul Zonn (b. 1938), "I saw a man pursuing", 1967 [ unaccompanied contralto ], from 3 Folk Songs of Stephen Crane [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2004-02-09
Line count: 8
Word count: 40