by William Henry Davies (1871 - 1940)
Leisure
Language: English
Our translations: GER
What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs And [stare]1 as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time, to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like stars at night. No time to turn at Beauty's glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began. A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.
R. Stöhr sets stanzas 1-5, 7
1 Stöhr: "stand"
Text Authorship:
- by William Henry Davies (1871 - 1940), "Leisure", appears in Songs of Joy and Others, first published 1911 [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 Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, Sir (1891 - 1975), "Leisure", 1923, published 1923, rev. 1972 [ voice and piano ], from Three songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Harold Walter Greenhill (1902 - ?), "Leisure" [ unison chorus ], note: may be wrong text [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alfred Kunz (b. 1929), "Leisure", published 1972 [ TTBB chorus and piano ], from Three Works for Male Chorus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Eric Leigh , "Leisure", published 1960 [ 2-part canon of equal voices and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robin Humphrey Milford (1903 - 1959), "Leisure", published 1930 [ 2-part chorus of children's voices and piano ], from Rain, Wind, and Sunshine [sung text not yet checked]
- by Merle Montgomery (b. 1900), "Leisure", published 1951 [ SSATBB chorus a cappella ], note: may be wrong text [sung text not yet checked]
- by Barbara Pentland (b. 1912), "Leisure", 1938 [ three-part chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Stöhr (1874 - 1967), "Leisure", op. 104a (Ten Songs) no. 5 (1944), published 2015, stanzas 1-5,7 [ voice and piano ], unpublished; manuscript at Saint Michael's College Archives and available in scanned form at the Petrucci Music Library [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , "Muße", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 106