Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: [Sometime]1 too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to [time thou growest]2: [So long]3 as men [can]4 breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Eternal Summer
by Stephen Wilkinson (b. 1919)
1. Eternal summer  [sung text checked 1 time]
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 18
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (L. A. J. Burgersdijk)
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 18, first published 1857
- FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot) , no title, appears in Œuvres Complètes de Shakspeare Volume VIII, in Sonnets, no. 18, first published 1863
- GER German (Deutsch) (Ludwig Reinhold Walesrode) , first published 1840
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Dovrei paragonarti ad un giorno d'estate?", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- RUS Russian (Русский) (Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky) , "Сонет 18", written 1914
1 Wilkinson: "Sometimes"
2 Aikin: "times thou grow'st"
3 Wilkinson: "As long"
4 Aikin: "shall"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler
2. Winter snow  [sung text checked 1 time]
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan;
Earth [stood]1 hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
[Snow on snow]2,
In the bleak mid-winter
[Long]3 ago.
[ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "A Christmas Carol"
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRI Frisian (Geart van der Meer) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
First published in Scribner's Monthly, January 1872
1 Trotta: "grew"
2 omitted by Trotta.
3 Trotta: "Long, long"
4 omitted by Walton?
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
3. Proud songsters  [sung text checked 1 time]
The thrushes sing as the sun is going, And the finches whistle in ones and pairs, And as it gets dark loud nightingales In bushes Pipe, as they can when April wears, As if all Time were theirs. These are brand-new birds of twelve-months' growing, Which a year ago, or less than twain, No finches were, nor nightingales, Nor thrushes, But only particles of grain, And earth, and air, and rain.
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "Proud songsters"
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Christopher Park) , "Fiers chanteurs", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
4. The gate in the wall
The blue gate in the wall
. . . . . . . . . .
— The rest of this text is not
currently in the database but will be
added as soon as we obtain it. —
5. Lullaby  [sung text not yet checked]
Lay your sleeping head, my love, Human on my faithless arm; Time and fevers burn away Individual beauty from Thoughtful children, and the grave Proves the child ephemeral: But in my arms till break of day Let the living creature lie, Mortal, guilty, but to me The entirely beautiful. Soul and body have no bounds: To lovers as they lie upon Her tolerant enchanted slope In their ordinary swoon, Grave the vision Venus sends Of supernatural sympathy, Universal love and hope; While an abstract insight wakes Among the glaciers and the rocks The hermit's [sensual]1 ecstasy. Certainty, fidelity On the stroke of midnight pass Like vibrations of a bell, And fashionable madmen raise Their pedantic boring cry: Every farthing of the cost, All the dreaded cards foretell, Shall be paid, but from this night Not a whisper, not a thought, Not a kiss nor look be lost. Beauty, midnight, vision dies: Let the winds of dawn that blow Softly round your dreaming head Such a day of [sweetness]2 show Eye and knocking heart may bless, Find the mortal world enough; Noons of dryness see you fed By the involuntary powers, Nights of insult let you pass Watched by every human love.
Text Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), title 1: "Poem", title 2: "Lay your sleeping head, my love ", title 3: "Lullaby "
See other settings of this text.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
View original text (without footnotes)First published in New Writing, Spring 1937; revised 1958. Sometimes titled "Lay your sleeping head, my love", "Poem", or "Lullaby"
1 Wheeler: "carnal"2 Wheeler: "welcome"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
6. Chapels (Y capelau)
I've seen so many chapels in Wales
. . . . . . . . . .
— The rest of this text is not
currently in the database but will be
added as soon as we obtain it. —
Text Authorship:
- by Fred Pratt Green (1903 - 2000), copyright ©
Go to the general single-text view
This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.7. Renunciation  [sung text checked 1 time]
I must not think of thee; and, tired [yet]1 strong, I shun the [love]2 that lurks in all delight -- The [love]3 of thee -- [and]4 in the blue heaven's height, [And]4 in the [dearest]5 passage of a song. Oh, just beyond the [sweetest]3 thoughts that throng This breast, the thought of thee waits hidden yet bright; But it must never, never come in sight; I must stop short of thee the whole day long. But when sleep comes to close each difficult day, When night gives pause to the long watch I keep, And all my bonds I needs must loose apart, Must doff my will as raiment laid away, -- With the first dream that comes with the first sleep I run, I run, I am gather'd to thy heart.
Text Authorship:
- by Alice Christina Meynell (1847 - 1922), "Renouncement", appears in Poems, first published 1893
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir. The Oxford Book of English Verse, Oxford, Clarendon, 1919, [c1901]; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/101/879.html.
1 Wilkinson: "but"2 Agopov, Wilkinson: "thought"
3 Agopov: "sweetest"; Wilkinson: "thought"
4 Wilkinson: "or"
5 Agopov, Wilkinson: "fairest"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
8. To a young girl  [sung text checked 1 time]
My dear, my dear I know More than another What makes your heart beat so; Not even your own mother Can know it as I know, Who broke my heart for her When the wild thought, That she denies And has forgot, Set all her blood astir And glittered in her eyes.
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "To a young girl", appears in Nine Poems, appears in The Wild Swans at Coole, first published 1918
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "À une fille jeune", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with W. B. Yeats, Later Poems, Macmillan and Co., London, 1926, page 254.
Researcher for this page: John Versmoren
9. O do not love too long  [sung text checked 1 time]
[Sweetheart, do]1 not love too long: I loved long and long, And grew to be out of fashion Like an old song. All through the years of our youth Neither could have known Their own thought from the other's, We were so much at one. But O, in a minute [she]2 changed -- O do not love too long, Or [you will]3 grow out of fashion Like an old song.
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "O do not love too long", appears in In the Seven Woods, first published 1904
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Oh, n'aime pas trop longtemps", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with W. B. Yeats, Later Poems, Macmillan and Co., London, 1926, page 86.
1 Wilkinson: "O do"2 Rorem: "he"
3 Wilkinson: "you'll"
Researcher for this page: John Versmoren
10. Maude Gonne takes down a book  [sung text checked 1 time]
When you are old and gray and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false [or]1 true, But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face; And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how love [fled]2 And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "When you are old", appears in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics, appears in The Rose, first published 1892
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , "Wenn Du alt bist", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Tamás Rédey) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Quando ormai sarai vecchia, e grigia e sonnolenta", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with The Poetical Works of William B. Yeats in two volumes, volume 1 : Lyrical Poems, The Macmillan Company, New York and London, 1906, page 179. Note: this poem is often described as a free adaptation of Ronsard's Quand vous serez bien vieille.
1 Bachlund: "and"2 Venables: "hath fled"
Researcher for this page: Garth Baxter
11. Politics  [sung text checked 1 time]
How can I, that girl standing there, My attention fix On Roman or on Russian Or on Spanish politics? Yet here's a travelled man that knows What he talks about, And there's a politician That has read and thought, And maybe what they say is true Of war and [war's]1 alarms, But O that I were young again And held her in my arms!
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "Politics"
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Politique", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Politica", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Note: the poem is headed by this quote: "In our time the destiny of man presents its meanings in political terms" - Thomas Mann.
1 Wilkinson: "man's
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
12. Nosegay [sung text checked 1 time]
Note: this is a multi-text setting
If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee. If ever wife [was]1 happy in a man, Compare with me, ye women, if you can. I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, Or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such that rivers cannot quench, Nor [ought]2 but love from thee give recompense. Thy love is such I can no way repay; The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray. Then while we live, in love let's so [persever]3, That when we live no more, we may live ever.
Text Authorship:
- by Anne (Dudley) Bradstreet (1612? - 1672), "To my dear and loving husband"
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with The Complete Works of Anne Bradstreet, 1981.
1 Wilkinson: "were"2 Wilkinson: "aught"
3 Rorem: "persevere"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
My true Love hath my heart and I have his. By just exchange, one [for]1 the other given: I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss; There never was a [bargain better]2 driven[.]3 His heart in me keeps [me and him]4 in one; My heart in him his thoughts and senses [guides]5: He loves my heart, for once it was his own; I cherish his because in me it bides[.]3 His heart his wound received from my sight; My heart was wounded with his wounded heart; For as from me on him his hurt did light, So still methought in me his hurt did smart: Both equal hurt, in this change sought our bliss: My true Love hath my heart, and I have his.
Text Authorship:
- by Philip Sidney, Sir (1554 - 1586), no title, appears in Arcadia
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Der Handel", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936
Confirmed with Love Songs of English Poets, 1500-1800, New York : D. Appleton and Company, 1892, in which it is titled "Sonnet to Stella", which is probably not the author's title.
Parodied in Archibald Stodart-Walker's My true friend hath my hat.
1 Foote: "to"2 Adler, Carwithen, Foote, Gounod, Rutter, Wilkinson: "better bargain"
3 Adler, Carwithen, Foote: ":/ My true Love hath my heart and I have his." (first line is repeated)
4 Adler, Carwithen, Foote: "him and me"
5 Adler, Carwithen: "guide"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Ted Perry
I The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five pound note. The Owl looked up to the stars above, And sang to a small guitar, "O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love, What a beautiful [Pussy]1 you are, you are, you are! What a beautiful Pussy you are." II Pussy said to the Owl "You elegant fowl, How charmingly sweet you sing. O let us be married, too long we have tarried; But what shall we do for a ring?" They sailed away, for a year and a day, To the land where the Bong-tree grows, And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood With a ring [at]2 the end of his nose, his nose, his nose, With a ring [at]1 the end of his nose. III "Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will" So they took it away, and were married next day By the Turkey who lives on the hill. They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon. And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand. They danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon, They danced by the light of the moon.
Text Authorship:
- by Edward Lear (1812 - 1888), "The Owl and the Pussycat", written 1867, appears in Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets, first published 1871
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Der Eul’ und die Miezekatz", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Совёнок и Кошечка", copyright © 1982, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Harmati: "puss"
2 Wilkinson: "in"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
13. Birdspeak  [sung text checked 1 time]
Do you ask what the birds say? The Sparrow, the Dove, The Linnet and Thrush say "I love and I love!" But the Lark is so brimful of gladness and love, The green fields below him, the blue sky above, That he sings, and he sings; and forever sings he -- "I love my Love, and my Love loves me!" In the winter they're silent -- the wind is so strong; What it says, I don't know, but it sings a loud song. But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny warm weather, And singing and loving -- all come back together. The Sparrow, the Dove, The Linnet and Thrush say "I love and I love!" Did you ask what the birds say?
The text shown is a variant of another text. [ View differences ]
It is based on
- a text in English by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834), "Answer to a child's question"
Go to the general single-text view
Researcher for this page: Mike Pearson14. What it is
It is what it is
. . . . . . . . . .
— The rest of this text is not
currently in the database but will be
added as soon as we obtain it. —
Text Authorship:
- by Stuart Hood (1915 - 2011), copyright ©
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Erich Fried (1921 - 1988), "Was es ist", copyright ©
Go to the general single-text view
This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.15. Kiss  [sung text checked 1 time]
Jenny kissed me when we met, Jumping from the chair she sat in; Time, you thief, who love to get Sweets into your [list]1, put that in: Say I'm weary, say I'm sad, Say that health and wealth have missed me, Say I'm growing old, but add Jenny kissed me.
Text Authorship:
- by (James Henry) Leigh Hunt (1784 - 1859), "Rondeau"
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)1 Wilkinson: "book"
Confirmed with Merlyn. Jaargang 2, Polak & Van Gennep, Amsterdam 1963-1964, page 3
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]