by Elinor Wylie (1885 - 1928)
Madman's song
Language: English
Better to see your cheek grown hollow, Better to see your temple worn, Than to forget to follow, follow, After the sound of a silver horn. Better to bind your brow with willow And follow, follow until you die, Than to sleep with your head on a golden pillow, Nor lift it up when the hunt goes by. Better to see your cheek grow sallow And your hair grown gray, so soon, so soon, Than to forget to hallo, hallo, After the milk-white hounds of the moon.
Text Authorship:
- by Elinor Wylie (1885 - 1928), "Madman's song", appears in Nets to Catch the Wind, first published 1921 [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 Paul Fetler (b. 1920), "Madman's song", published 1957. [SATB chorus a cappella] [text not verified]
- by Russell Woollen (1923 - 1994), "Madman's song", 1964 [voice and piano], from Willow Brook Suite [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-08-31
Line count: 12
Word count: 88