Down by the Salley Gardens | Down by the Salley Gardens my love and I did meet

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

Down by the Salley Gardens my love and I...

Language: English

Our translations: CAT DUT FRE FRI FRI GER

Down by the Salley Gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the Salley Gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take [love]¹ easy, as the leaves grow on the [tree]²;
But I, being young and foolish, with her [did]³ not agree.

In a field by the river my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• B. Britten • R. Clarke • J. Edmunds • G. Finzi • I. Gurney • J. Ireland

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View original text (without footnotes)

Retitled "Down by the Salley Gardens" with the subtitle "An old song re-sung" when republished in Poems in 1895.

Note: "salley" is an anglicized form of the Irish word "saileach", which means willow.

¹ Gurney: "life"
² Edmunds: "trees"
³ Edmunds, Gurney: "would"

Text Authorship:

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), title 1: "An old song re-sung", title 2: "Down by the Salley Gardens", appears in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, first published 1889 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Samuel Hans Adler (b. 1928), "But I was young and foolish", 1954 [ baritone and piano ], from Three Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Allan Blank (b. 1925), "Down by the Salley Gardens" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by James Brash , "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1945 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "The Salley Gardens", published 1943 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Alan Dudley Bush (1900 - 1995), "Down by the Salley Gardens" [sung text not yet checked]
by Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979), "Down by the Salley Gardens", 1919, published 1924 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Judith Cloud (1954 - 2023), "The Salley Gardens" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by June Harple Collins (b. 1915?), "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1929 [ baritone (or vocal duet for alto and baritone) with piano ], from Two Songs [sung text not yet checked]
by Alan DeBeer , "Down by the Salley Gardens", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
by Alice Decevee (b. 1904), "Down by the Salley Gardens", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
by John Edmunds (1913 - 1986), "The Salley Gardens" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Elaine M. Erickson (b. 1941), "Down by the Salley Gardens" [ soprano or tenor and strings ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), "The Salley Gardens" [sung text checked 1 time]
by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "Down by the Salley Gardens", 1920, published 1938 [ voice and piano ], from A First Volume of Ten Songs, no. 4, London: Oxford University Press [sung text checked 1 time]
by Irvin Hinchliffe , "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1931, copyright © 1943 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Herbert Hughes (1882 - 1937), "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1909 [ voice and piano ], note: an arrangement based on a traditional air called "The Maids of the Mourne Shore" [sung text not yet checked]
by John (Nicholson) Ireland (1879 - 1962), "The Salley Gardens", 1929-31, published 1934 [ voice and piano ], from Songs Sacred and Profane, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
by John Jeffreys (1927 - 2010), "The Salley Gardens" [ voice and piano ], several settings [sung text not yet checked]
by John Jeffreys (1927 - 2010), "I was young and foolish" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Ellen Mandel , "Down by the Salley Gardens" [sung text not yet checked]
by Diana Methold , "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1937 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Mary Plumstead (1905 - 1980), "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1951 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Irena Regina Poldowski (1880 - 1932), "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1900 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Down By The Salley Gardens", op. 158 (1947) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Down By The Salley Gardens", op. 482 (1956) [sung text not yet checked]
by Robert Leon Rollin (b. 1947), "Down by the Salley Gardens" [ baritone, flute, oboe, piano ], from Four Songs of Dreams and Love [sung text not yet checked]
by Martin Edward Fallas Shaw (1875 - 1958), "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1919 [ baritone voices and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Henry Stanley Taylor , "Down by the Salley Gardens", published 1963 [ voice and piano (or harp) with recorder ad libitum ] [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 91

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