by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973)
O where are you going? said reader to...
Language: English
O where are you going? said reader to rider, That valley is fatal when furnaces burn, Yonders the midden whose odors will madden, That gap is the grave where the tall return. O do you imagine, said fearer to farer, That dusk will delay on your path to the pass, Your diligent looking discover the lacking, Your footsteps feel from granite to grass? O what was that bird, said horror to hearer, Did you see that shape in the twisted tree? Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly, The spot on your skin is a shocking disease. Out of this house said rider to reader, Yours never will said farer to fearer, Theyre looking for you said hearer to horror, As he left them there, as he left them there.
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Text Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973) [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 Jack Hamilton Beeson (b. 1921), "Ballad: O where are you going?", 1976 [ voice and piano ], from From a Watchtower, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "O where are you going", 1997, published 1999, from Evidence of Things Not Seen, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2004-08-04
Line count: 16
Word count: 130