by Edith Alice Mary Harper (1884 - 1947), as Anna Wickham
The cherry blossom wand
Language: English
I will pluck from my tree a cherry-blossom wand, And carry it in my merciless hand, So I will drive you, so bewitch your eyes, With a beautiful thing that can never grow wise. Light are the petals that fall from the bough, And lighter the love that I offer you now; In a spring day shall the tale be told Of the beautiful things that will never grow old. [The blossoms shall fall in the night wind, And I will leave you so, to be kind:]1 Eternal in beauty, are short-lived flowers, Eternal in beauty, these exquisite hours. I will pluck from my tree a cherry-blossom wand, And carry it in my merciless hand, So I will drive you, so bewitch your eyes, With a beautiful thing that [shall]2 never grow wise.
View original text (without footnotes)
1 omitted by Coulthard.
2 Clarke: "can"
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
1 omitted by Coulthard.
2 Clarke: "can"
Text Authorship:
- by Edith Alice Mary Harper (1884 - 1947), as Anna Wickham, "The cherry-blossom wand" [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 Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979), "The cherry blossom wand" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jean Coulthard (1908 - 2000), "The cherry blossom wand", subtitle: "A roundelay", 1972/3, from Songs for Enchantment, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2009-12-01
Line count: 16
Word count: 133