by John Masefield (1878 - 1967)
The gentle lady
Language: English
So beautiful, so dainty-sweet, So like a lyre's delightful touch -- A beauty perfect, ripe, complete That art's own hand could only smutch And nature's self not better much. So beautiful, so purely wrought, Like a fair missal penned with hymns, So gentle, so surpassing thought -- A beauteous soul in lovely limbs, A lantern that an angel trims. So simple-sweet, without a sin, Like gentle music gently timed, Like rhyme-words coming aptly in, To round a moonèd poem rhymed To tunes the laughing bells have chimed.
Text Authorship:
- by John Masefield (1878 - 1967), "The gentle lady", appears in Ballads, first published 1903 [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 Shepherd (1880 - 1958), "The gentle lady" [voice and piano] [text not verified]
- by Freda Mary Swain (1902 - 1985), "The gentle lady", c1923. [light baritone or tenor and piano ensemble] [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-12-30
Line count: 15
Word count: 85