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by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence (1885 - 1930)

November by the Sea
Language: English 
Now in November nearer comes the sun
down the abandoned heaven.
As the dark closes round him, he draws nearer
as if for our company.

At the base of the lower brain
the sun in me declines to his winter solstice
and darts a few gold rays
back to the old year's sun across the sea.

A few gold rays thickening down to red
as the sun of my soul is setting
setting fierce and undaunted, wintry
but setting, setting behind the sounding sea
between my ribs.

The wide sea wins, and the dark
winter, and the great day-sun, and the sun in my soul
sinks, sinks to setting and the winter solstice
downward, they race in decline
my sun, and the great gold sun.

Confirmed with D. H. Lawrence, The Poems, edited by Christopher Pollnitz, Cambridge University Press, 2013, Volume I, page 395.


Text Authorship:

  • by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence (1885 - 1930), "November by the Sea" [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 Bernard Rands (b. 1934), "November by the Sea", from Canti del sole, no. 10 [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 125

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