This single girl is two girls:
  How strange such things should be!
One noon eclipsed by few girls,
  The next no beauty she.

And daily cries the lover,
  In voice and feature vext:
"My last impression of her
  Is never to be the next!

"She's plain: I will forget her!
  She's turned to fair. Ah no,
Forget? -- not I! I'll pet her
  With kisses swift and slow."

Confirmed with The Collected Poems of Thomas Hardy, Wordsworth Editions, 1994, pages 764.

Text Authorship:

• by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "The protean maiden", subtitle: "Song", appears in Human Shows, Far Phantasies, Songs, and Trifles, first published 1925 [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 Derek Healey (b. 1936), "The Protean Maiden", op. 13 no. 1 (1961) [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Five Thomas Hardy Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2013-12-01
Line count: 12
Word count: 67