by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
O life of this our spring! why fades the...
Language: English
O life of this our spring! why fades the lotus of the water, Why fade these children of the spring, born but to smile and fall? Ah! Thel is like a wat'ry bow, and like a parting cloud; Like a reflection in a glass; like shadows in the water; Like dreams of infants, like a smile upon an infant's face; Like the dove's voice; like transient day; like music in the air. Ah! gentle may I lay me down, and gentle rest my head, And gentle sleep the sleep of death, and gentle hear the voice Of him that walketh in the garden in the evening time.
W. Kemp sets lines 7-9
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), no title, appears in The Book of Thel, an excerpt [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 (Henry) Walford Davies, Sir (1869 - 1941), "Thel", published c1934 [bass, soprano, chorus, strings, and organ ad libitum], from the cantata Ah! Gentle May I lay me down, no. 2, London: Oxford University Press ; Welsh National Council of Music [text not verified]
- by Walter Kemp (b. 1938), "Lines from The Book of Thel", 1958, published c1967, lines 7-9 [soprano, tenor, and SATB chorus a cappella], from Five Poems of William Blake, no. 5, Don Mills, Ont. : BMI Canada (Berandol) [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-04-15
Line count: 9
Word count: 107