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by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)

What's there to tell?
Language: English 
What's there to tell of the world
  More than is told?
-- Into its vortex hurled,
  Out of it rolled,
Can we yet more of the world
  Find to be told?
    Lalla-la, lu!

If some could last alive
  Much might be told;
Yes, gladness might survive;
  But they go cold --
Each and each late alive --
  All their tale told.
    Lalla-la, lu!

There's little more of the world,
  Then, to be told;
Had ever life unfurled
  Joys manifold,
There had been more of the world
  Left to be told.
    Lalla-la, lalla-la, lalla-la, lu!

Confirmed with The Collected Poems of Thomas Hardy, Wordsworth Editions, 1994, pages 735-736.


Text Authorship:

  • by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), ""What's there to tell?"", 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 Seymour J. Shifrin (b. 1926), "What's there to tell?", published 1974 [mezzo-soprano, flute, piccolo, clarinet, violin, violoncello, contrabass, and piano], from Satires of Circumstance [
     text not verified 
    ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2013-12-01
Line count: 21
Word count: 91

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