by James Wright (1927 - 1980)
A Breath of Air
Language: English
I walked, when love was gone, Out of the human town, For an easy breath of air. Beyond a break in the trees, Beyond the hangdog lives Of old men, beyond girls: The tall stars held their peace. Looking in vain for lies I turned, like earth, to go. An owl's wings hovered, bare On the moon's hills of snow. And things were as they were.
Text Authorship:
- by James Wright (1927 - 1980), appears in St. Judas [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 Monica Houghton , "A Breath of Air", 2009, first performed 2010 [ baritone and piano ], from Five Songs on Poems of James Wright, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2026-02-01
Line count: 12
Word count: 66