by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
Farewell to a name and a number
Language: English
Farewell to a name and a number Recalled again To darkness and silence and slumber In blood and pain. So ceases and turns to the thing He was born to be A soldier cheap to the King And dear to me; So smothers in blood the burning And flaming [flight]1 Of valour and truth returning To dust and night.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Bacon: "light"
Text Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in More Poems, no. 40, first published 1936 [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 Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Farewell to a name", c1965. [voice and piano] [text verified 1 time]
- by John Ramsden Williamson (1929 - 2015), "Farewell to a name and a number" [baritone and piano] [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-12-13
Line count: 12
Word count: 59