by John Masefield (1878 - 1967)
The wild duck
Language: English
Twilight. Red in the West. Dimness. A glow on the wood. The teams plod home to rest. The wild duck come to glean. O souls not understood, What a wild cry in the pool; What things have the farm ducks seen That they cry so--huddle and cry? Only the soul that goes. Eager. Eager. Flying. Over the globe of the moon, Over the wood that glows. Wings linked. Necks a-strain, A rush and a wild crying. A cry of the long pain In the reeds of a steel lagoon, In a land that no man knows.
First published as "Coming into Salcombe" in Broad Sheet, December 1903
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text Authorship:
- by John Masefield (1878 - 1967), "The wild duck", appears in Ballads and Poems, first published 1910 [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 Cecil Forsyth (1870 - 1941), "The wild duck", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-12-30
Line count: 17
Word count: 96