Tell me, tell me, smiling child,
What the past is like to thee?
"An autumn evening soft and mild
With a wind that sighs mournfully."

Tell me, what is the present hour?
"A green and flowery spray
Where a young bird sits gathering its power
To mount and fly away."

Tell me, tell me, what is the future, happy one?
"A sea beneath a cloudless sun;
 a mighty, glorious, dazzling sea
Stretching into infinity.

About the headline (FAQ)

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Note: in the Fisk work, this is sung by Nelly (asking the questions), Cathy (first and last answers) and Hareton (second answer).

Text Authorship:

• by Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848), appears in Poems by Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë Now for the First Time Printed, first published 1902 [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 Ronald A. Beckett , "Tell me, tell me, smiling child", 2015 [ voice, chorus and piano ], from Five Poems of Emily Brontë, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Terry Fisk , "Tell me, tell me, smiling child", published 2002 [ voice, piano ], from Wuthering Heights, no. 49 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Pierre Herman Joubert (1927 - 2019), "Oracle", published 1971 [ high voice and piano ], from Six Poems of Emily Brontë [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Mitchell (b. 1941), "Tell me, tell me, smiling child", op. 24 no. 3 (1977), from The Earth, the Wind, and the Sky, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Robert Owens (1925 - 2017), "Tell me, tell me", op. 18 no. 2 [ low voice and piano ], from 3 Songs for a Deep Voice and Piano, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Nick Peros (b. 1963), "Tell me, tell me, smiling child" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Rudolph T. Werther (1896 - 1986), "Tell me, tell me", 1945-70 [ voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 74