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by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894)

As from the house your mother sees
Language: English 
As from the house your mother sees
You playing round the garden trees,
So you may see, if you will look
Through the windows of this book,
Another child, far, far away,
And in another garden, play.
But do not think you can at all,
By knocking on the window, call
That child to hear you. He intent
Is all on his play-business bent.
He does not hear; he will not look,
Nor yet be lured out of this book.
For, long ago, the truth to say,
He has grown up and gone away,
And it is but a child of air
That lingers in the garden there.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "To Any Reader" [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 Mabel Wood Hill (1870 - 1954), "Envoy", published c1902 [ voice and piano ], from Seven songs of Stevenson, no. 7, Cincinnati : J. Church Co. [sung text not yet checked]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2025-06-09
Line count: 16
Word count: 108

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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