by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933)
Only the wind knows he is gone
Language: English
Only the wind knows he is gone, Only the wind grieves, The sun shines, the fields are sown, Sparrows mate in the eaves; But I heard the wind in the pines he planted And the hemlocks overhead, "His acres wake, for the year turns, But he is asleep," it said.
About the headline (FAQ)
Note: According to Carol Schoen, in Sara Teasdale, Twayne Publishers, 1986, page 150, the "W.E.W." in the title refers to W. E. Wheeler, in memory of whom the poem is written.
Text Authorship:
- by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "Wind Elegy (W.E.W.)" [author's text not yet checked 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 George Crumb (1929 - 2022), "Wind Elegy (W.E.W.)" [ voice and piano ], from Three Early Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Simon Sargon (b. 1938), "Wind Elegy", 1988 [ voice and piano ], from Let it be you, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Élégie au vent", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Des Windes Klage (W.E.W.)", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-03-23
Line count: 8
Word count: 50