I dreamed that I stood in a valley, and amid sighs,
For happy lovers passed two by two where I stood;
And I dreamed my lost love came stealthily out of the wood
With her cloud-pale eyelids falling on dream-dimmed eyes:
I cried in my dream "O women bid the young men lay
"Their heads on your knees, and drown their eyes with your hair,
"Or remembering hers they will find no other face fair
"Till all the valleys of the world have been withered away."

About the headline (FAQ)

First published in Saturday Review, January 1897, revised 1899 and 1906. Later titled "Aedh tells of a Valley full of Lovers"

Text Authorship:

• by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), title 1: "The valley of lovers", title 2: "He tells of a valley full of lovers" [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 Julia Damon , "The valley of lovers", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ruth Schonthal (1924 - 2006), "He tells of a valley full of lovers", 1949 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Nine Lyric Dramatic Songs, no. 5, Furore Edition [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-21
Line count: 8
Word count: 86