by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)
Former beauties
Language: English
These market-dames, mid-aged, with lips thin-drawn, And tissues sere, Are they the ones we loved in years agone, And courted here? Are these the muslined pink young things to whom We vowed and swore In nooks on summer Sundays by the Froom, Or Budmouth shore? Do they remember those gay tunes we trod Clasped on the green; Aye; trod till moonlight set on the beaten sod A satin sheen? They must forget, forget! They cannot know What once they were, Or memory would transfigure them, and show Them always fair.
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "Former beauties", appears in Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses, in At Casterbridge Fair, no. 2, first published 1909 [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 Andrew Downes (1950 - 2023), "Former beauties", op. 1 no. 2 (1973), from Casterbridge Fair, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), "Former beauties", op. 14 no. 8, published 1933 [ tenor and piano ], from A Young Man's Exhortation, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Frederic Goossen (b. 1927), "Former beauties" [ duet for mezzo-soprano and baritone with piano ], from At Casterbridge Fair, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alfred Matthew Hale (1875 - 1960), "Former beauties", op. 27 no. 2 [ voice and piano ], from At Casterbridge Fair, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 90