by William Ernest Henley (1849 - 1903)
You played and sang a snatch of song
Language: English
You played and sang a snatch of song, A song that all-too well we knew; But whither had flown the ancient wrong; And was it really I and you? O, since the end of life's to live And pay in pence the common debt, What should it cost us to forgive Whose daily task is to forget? You babbled in the well-known voice - Not new, not new the words you said. You touched me off that famous poise, That old effect, of neck and head. Dear, was it really you and I? In truth the riddle's ill to read, So many are the deaths we die Before we can be dead indeed.
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Text Authorship:
- by William Ernest Henley (1849 - 1903), no title, appears in Rhymes and Rhythms, no. 15 [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 Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "Flown", op. 11 (Seven songs) no. 1 (1912) [ voice and piano ], note: this may be the wrong text for this title [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-29
Line count: 16
Word count: 112