by Robert Browning (1812 - 1889)
Overhead the treetops meet (from "Pippa Passes")
Language: English
Overhead the tree-tops meet, Flowers and grass spring 'neath one's feet; There was nought above me, and nought below, My childhood had not learned to know: For what are the voices of birds -Ay, and of beasts,-but words-our words, Only so much more sweet? The knowledge of that with my life begun! But I had so near made out the sun, And counted your stars, the Seven and One, Like the fingers of my hand: Nay, I could all but understand Wherefore through heaven the white moon ranges, And just when out of her soft fifty changes No unfamiliar face might overlook me- Suddenly God took me!
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Browning (1812 - 1889), appears in Pippa Passes [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 Clara Kathleen Rogers (1844 - 1931), "Overhead the treetops meet (from "Pippa Passes")", op. 36 (1902), published 1903 [ voice and piano ], Boston : Arthur P. Schmidt and Co. [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Lied der Pippa", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2011-07-14
Line count: 16
Word count: 107