Children

Come to me, O ye children!
For I hear you at your play,
And the questions that perplexed me
Have vanished quite away.

Ye open the eastern windows,
That look towards the sun,
Where thoughts are singing swallows
And the brooks of morning run.

In your hearts are the birds and the sunshine,
In your thoughts the brooklet`s flow,
But in mine is the wind of Autumn
And the first fall of the snow.

Ah! what would the world be to us
If the children were no more?
We should dread the desert behind us
Worse than the dark before.

What the leaves are to the forest,
With light and air for food,
Ere their sweet and tender juices
Have been hardened into wood, -

That to the world are children;
Through them it feels the glow
Of a brighter and sunnier climate
Than reaches the trunks below.

Come to me, O ye children!
And whisper in my ear
What the birds and the winds are singing
In your sunny atmosphere.

For what are all our contrivings,
And the wisdom of our books,
When compared with your caresses,
And the gladness of your looks?

Ye are better than all the ballads
That ever were sung or said;
For ye are living poems,
And all the rest are dead.

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) , "Children", from The Courtship of Miles Standish, and Other Poems, published 1858

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Thomas Anderton (1836-1903) , "Come to Me O Ye Children" [voice, piano]
by Edgar Leslie Bainton (1880-1956) , "To the Children", published 1923. [voice, piano]
by George Baker (1768-1847) , "Children", published 1878.
by Robert Batten , "Living Poems", published 1905. [voice, piano, organ ad lib.]
by Arthur Cecil , "Children" [voice, piano]
by Charles Coes Chase , "Come to Me, O Ye Children", published 1900. [SATB chorus, piano ad lib.]
by William Richardson Dempster (1809-1871) , "Children", published 1859.
by J. M. Driver , "Longfellow's Work Song", published 1886.
by John Liptrot Hatton (1809-1886) , "Children" [voice, piano]
by Matthew Kingston , "Come to Me, O Ye Children" [voice, piano]
by George Linley (1798-1865) , "Children" [voice, piano]
by Clara Angela Macirone (1821-1915?) , "Come to Me Oh Ye Children" [voice, piano]
by Frederick Charles Maker , "Children" [voice, piano]
by Isidora Martinez , "Living Poems", published 1912. [voice, piano]
by Charles Matthews , "Come to Me, O Ye Children" [voice, piano]
by Walter Maynard (1828-1894) , "Children", published 186-? [voice, piano]
by J. Mountfort , "Children" [voice, piano]
by Joseph Edward Newell , "The Eastern Window" [voice, piano]
by Francis (Frank) Romer (1810-1889) , "Children" [voice, piano]
by Louis Selle , "Come to Me, O Ye Children", published 1862. [voice, piano]
by Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) , "Living Poems", published >>1864. [voice, piano]
by Helena Watkis , "Children's Voices" [voice, piano]
by Dorothy J. Whyte , "Living Poems", published 1922. [voice, piano]

Date added to the website: 2005-03-17.

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