by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
There pass the careless people
Language: English
There pass the careless people That call their souls their own: Here by the road I loiter, How idle and alone. Ah, past the plunge of plummet, In seas I cannot sound, My heart and soul and senses, World without end, are drowned. His folly has not fellow Beneath the blue of day That gives to man or woman His heart and soul away. There flowers no balm to sain him From east of earth to west That's lost for everlasting The heart out of his breast. Here by the labouring highway With empty hands I stroll: Sea-deep, till doomsday morning, Lie lost my heart and soul.
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Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in A Shropshire Lad, no. 14, first published 1896 [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 Timothy Hoekman , "There pass the careless people", 1980, published 1988 [ voice and piano ], from Seven Housman Songs, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Somervell, Sir (1863 - 1937), "There pass the careless people", 1904, published 1904 [ voice and piano ], from A Shropshire Lad, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by John Ramsden Williamson (1929 - 2015), "There pass the careless people " [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 107