I was a boy then. I did not understand -- I thought that friendship lay In the grip of hand to hand. I thought that love must be Her body close to mine. I thought that drunkenness Was real -- In wine. But I was a boy then, I didn't understand The things a young lad Learns so soon When he's A man.
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Text Authorship:
- by Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967), "Man", appears in Fields of Wonder, first published 1947 [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 Robert Owens (1925 - 2017), "Man", op. 13 no. 4 [ tenor and piano ], from Desire, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2021-01-22
Line count: 15
Word count: 61