Neutral tones (Hardy, set by R. Buckle, N. Maw) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


We stood by a pond that winter day, 
And the sun was white as though chidden of God, 
And a few leaves lay on the starving sod; 
- They had fallen from an ash, and were gray. 

Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove
Over tedious riddles of years ago; 
And some words played between us to and fro
- On which lost the more by our love. 

The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing
Alive enough to have strength to die; 
And a grin of bitterness swept thereby
Like an ominous bird a-wing. 

Since then, keen lessons that love deceives, 
And wrings with wrong, have shaped to me
Your face, and the God-curst sun, and a tree, 
And a pond edged with grayish leaves.

Authorship

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

Wessex Poems and Other Verses

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

Roy Buckle (1926-)

Nicholas Maw (1935-)

Six Interiors

Date added to the website: 2006-10-11.

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