by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
Why should I be bound to thee
Language: English
Why should I be bound to thee, O my lovely Myrtle-tree? Love, free Love, cannot be bound To any tree that grows on ground. O! how sick and weary I Underneath my Myrtle lie; Like to dung upon the ground, Underneath my Myrtle bound. Oft my Myrtle sigh'd in vain To behold my heavy chain: Oft my Father saw us sigh, And laugh'd at our simplicity. So I smote him, and his gore Stain'd the roots my Myrtle bore. But the time of youth is fled, And grey hairs are on my head.
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Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827) [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 Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "In a myrtle shade", 1907, published 1909, from Three Blake Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Henry Bell (1873 - 1946), "In a myrtle shade", 1940, from Twelve Blake Songs, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nigel Henry Butterley (1935 - 2022), "To my myrtle tree", op. 2 no. 2 (1956), from Six Blake Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "In a myrtle shade", op. 9 (Seven songs) no. 5 (1912) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Zoltán Jeney (b. 1943), "In a mirtle shade", subtitle: "Adrian Leverkühn's song", 1975-83, published c1985 [ female voice, violin, and piano ], from Twelve Songs, no. 7, Budapest, Edition Musica Budapest [sung text not yet checked]
- by Tõnu Kalam , "To my myrtle", 1966-7, first performed 1967 [ soprano and piano ], from A Garden of Experience, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 93