What's in your mind, my dove, my coney; Do thoughts grow like feathers, the dead end of life; Is it making of love or counting of money, Or a raid on the jewels, the plans of a thief? Open your eyes, my dearest dallier; Let hunt with your hands for escaping me; Go through the motions of exploring the familiar; Stand on the brink of the warm white day. Rise with the wind, my great big serpent; Silence the birds and darken the air; Change me with terror, alive in a moment; Strike for the heart and have me there.
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First published in Twentieth Century, November 1933 as one of "Two Poems"Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley, Sir (1903 - 1989), "What's in your mind, my dove, my coney?", op. 53 no. 3 (1958), published 1960 [ medium voice and piano ], from Five poems, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "What's in your mind?" [ high voice and piano ], from Fish in the unruffled lakes : Six Auden Settings for High Voice and Piano, no. 5, note: collected into one publication in 1997 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Peter Dickinson (b. 1934), "What's on your mind, my dove, my coney?", 1956 [ high female voice and piano ], from Four W. H. Auden Songs, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2013-02-10
Line count: 12
Word count: 100