Watching the needleboats at San Sabba | Watching the needleboats at San Saba | I heard their young hearts crying

by James Joyce (1882 - 1941)

I heard their young hearts crying

Language: English

Our translations: FRE GER

I heard their young hearts crying
Loveward above the glancing oar
And heard the prairie grasses sighing:
No more, return no more!

O hearts, O sighing grasses,
Vainly your loveblown bannerets mourn!
No more will the wild wind that passes
Return, no more return.

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• A. Bax

About the headline (FAQ)

First published in the Saturday Review, September 1913

Text Authorship:

by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), "Watching the needleboats at San Sabba", written 1912, appears in Pomes Penyeach, no. 2 [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 Stanley Richard Bate (1913 - 1959), "Watching the needleboats at San Saba", published 1951 [ low voice and piano ], from Five Songs [sung text not yet checked]
by Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, Sir (1883 - 1953), "Watching the needleboats at San Saba", published 1933 [ voice and piano ], from The Joyce Book, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Brian Boydell (1917 - 2000), "Watching the needleboats at San Saba", 1936 [ low voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Robin Field (b. 1935), "I heard their young hearts crying", 1967 [ tenor, oboe, and string quartet ], from The sly reeds whisper [sung text not yet checked]
by John Gruen (b. 1927), "Watching the needleboats at San Saba" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Geert van Keulen (b. 1943), "Watching the needleboats at San Saba", 1943, published 1984, rev. 1984 [ soprano, flute (alto flute and piccolo), clarinet (bass clarinet), violin, contrabass, harp, vibraphone (tam-tam), mandolin, and guitar ], from Trieste, or Three Poems by James Joyce, no. 2, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text not yet checked]

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

Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller

This text was added to the website: 2005-01-13
Line count: 8
Word count: 44