by David Hartley Coleridge (1796 - 1849)
When we were idlers with loitering rills
Language: English
When we were idlers [with]1 loitering rills, The need of human love we little noted: Our love was nature; and the peace that floated On the white mist, and dwelt upon the hills, To sweet accord subdued our wayward wills: One soul was ours, one mind, one heart devoted, That, wisely doting, asked not why it doted, And ours the unknown joy, which knowing kills. But now I find how dear thou wert to me; That man is more than half of nature's treasure, Of that fair beauty which no eye can see, Of that sweet music which no ear can measure; And now the streams may sing for others' pleasure, The hills sleep on in their eternity.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Berkeley: "with the"
Text Authorship:
- by David Hartley Coleridge (1796 - 1849), "To a friend", from Poems, first published 1833 [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 Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley, Sir (1903 - 1989), "When we were idlers with the loitering rills", op. 58 no. 7 (1962), published 1963 [high voice and piano], from Autumn's Legacy, no. 7. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-14
Line count: 14
Word count: 118