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by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917)

The bridge
Language: English 
I have come a long way to-day:
On a strange bridge alone,
Remembering friends, old friends,
I rest, without smile or moan,
As they remember me without smile or moan.

All are behind, the kind
And the unkind too, no more
To-night than a dream. The stream
Runs softly yet drowns the Past,
The dark-lit stream has drowned the Future and the Past.

No traveller has rest more blest
Than this moment brief between
Two lives, when the Night's first lights
And shades hide what has never been,
Things goodlier, lovelier, dearer, than will be or have been.

Text Authorship:

  • by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917), "The bridge" [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), "The bridge", 1920 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Elaine Hugh-Jones (b. 1927), "The bridge", 2008 [ voice and piano ], from Strange Journey: Songs of Edward Thomas, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2012-09-09
Line count: 15
Word count: 98

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