In valleys green and still
   Where lovers wander maying,
They hear from over hill
   A music playing.

Behind the drum and fife,
   Past [hawthorn wood]1 and hollow,
Through earth and out of life,
   The soldiers follow.

The soldier's is the trade:
   In any wind or weather
He steals the heart of maid
   And man together.

The lover and his lass
   Beneath the hawthorn lying
Have heard the soldiers pass,
   And both are sighing.

And down the distance they,
   With dying note and swelling,
Walk the resounding way
   To the still dwelling.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ in some editions of Housman, this is "hawthornwood"

Authorship:

• by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in Last Poems, no. 7, first published 1922 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Benjamin Burrows (1891 - 1966), "The Soldiers", 1927 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "In valleys green and still", 1971 [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Daniel Gregory Mason (1873 - 1953), "In valleys green and still", published 1927 [ soli, chorus, and orchestra ], from Songs of the Countryside [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Wilfred Orr (1893 - 1976), "In valleys green and still", 1952, published 1954 [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Leslie Russell , "In valleys green and still", 1973 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from The Ludlow Cycle [sung text not yet checked]
• by Dom Thomas Symons (1887 - 1975), "In valleys green and still", published 1965 [ voice and piano ], London : J. Curwen ; NY : G. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Ramsden Williamson (1929 - 2015), "In valleys green and still" [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Mike Pearson

This text was added to the website: 2008-08-13
Line count: 20
Word count: 91