Dance there upon the shore;
What need have you to care
For wind or water's roar?
And tumble out your hair
That the salt drops have wet;
Being young you have not known
The fool's triumph, nor yet
Love lost as soon as won,
Nor the best labourer dead
And all the sheaves to bind.
What need have you to dread
The monstrous crying of wind?

Note: also sometimes titled "To a Child dancing upon the shore"
First published in Poetry, Chicago (December 1912), revised 1913

Text Authorship:

• by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "To a child dancing in the wind" [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 Lowell Dykstra (b. 1952), "To a Child dancing in the Wind", 1998, published 2001, first performed 2000 [ baritone and piano ], from Youth and Age, no. 2, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "To a Child Dancing in the Wind", copyright © 1987 [ soprano and string quartet ], from To a Child, no. 2, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Michael Murray , "To a Child dancing in the Wind", 2004 [ soprano, horn, and piano ], from The Wild Winds Weep, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Daniel Ruyneman (1886 - 1963), "To a Child dancing in the Wind", 1949 [ voice and piano ], from Seven melodies, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ruth Schonthal (1924 - 2006), "To a Child dancing in the Wind", 1949 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Nine Lyric Dramatic Songs, no. 4, Furore Edition [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Kenneth Tavener (1944 - 2013), "To a child dancing in the wind" [ soprano, flute, harp, viola ], from To a child dancing in the wind, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joel Weiss , "To a Child dancing in the Wind ", 1994 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hugh Wood (1932 - 2021), "To a Child dancing in the Wind", published 1974 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-09-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 66