by Francis Thompson (1859 - 1907)
To a Snowflake
Language: English
What heart could have thought you? -- Pas our devisal (O filigree petal!) Fashioned so purely, Fragilely, surely, From what Paradisal Imagineless metal, Too costly for cost? Who hammered you, wrought you, From argentine vapour? -- "God was my shaper. Passing surmisal, He hammered, he wrought me, From curled silver vapour, To lust of His mind:-- Thou couldst not have thought me! So purely, so palely, Tinily, surely, Mightily, frailly, Insculped and embossed, With His hammer of wind, And His graver of frost."
Confirmed with An Anthology of Modern Verse, ed. by A. Methuen, London: Methuen & Co., 1921.
Authorship:
- by Francis Thompson (1859 - 1907), "To a Snowflake" [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 Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "To a Snowflake", 1920 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2022-01-16
Line count: 22
Word count: 81