My shadow

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow --
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) , "My shadow", from A Child's Garden of Verses, published 1885

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

by Mark Andrews (1875-1939) , "My shadow", published 1911 [voice and piano], from Nine songs from "A Child's Garden of Verse", no. ?
by Norah Blaney , "My shadow", published 1918. [voice and piano]
by William Bradley , "My shadow", published 1914. [unison voices and piano]
by Thomas Crawford , "My shadow", published 1915 [voice and piano], from Songs with Music from "A Child's Garden of Verses", no. 3.
by Ethel Crowningshield , "My shadow", published 1910 [voice and piano], from Robert Louis Stevenson Songs, no. ?
by Edward Falk , "My shadow", published <<1940 [voice and piano], from A Child's Garden of Verses, no. ?
by Caroline Susan Theodora Grosvenor (1858-1940?) , "My shadow", published <<1940 [voice and piano], from Six songs from "A Child's Garden of Verses", no. ?
by Henry Kimball Hadley (1871-1937) , "My shadow", published 1903. [voice and piano]
by Liza Lehmann (1862-1918) , "My shadow", published 1902 [voice or vocal quartet and piano], from More daisies: new songs of childhood, no. 9.
by Franco Leoni (1864-1949) , "My shadow", published 1908. [voice and piano]
by Oskar Morawetz (1917-) , "My shadow", 1972 [soprano and piano], from A child's garden of verses, no. ?
by Marvin Radnor , "My shadow", published 1923. [voice and piano]
by Homer Samuels , "My shadow", published 1919. [high voice and piano]
by Thomas Griffen (Griffin?) Shepard (1848-1905) , "My shadow", published 1901 [voice and piano], from A cycle of songs, no. ?
by Eleanor Smith , "The shadow", published <<1940 [voice and piano], from Song Pictures, no. ?
by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) , "My shadow", op. 30 no. 6, published 1892 [unison voices and piano], from A Child's Garland of Songs, no. 6.
by Ward Stephens (1872-1940) , "My shadow", published <<1940. [voice and piano]
by Joseph Wardale , "My shadow", published 1963. [unison voices and piano]
by John Brown Russell Whitfield , "My shadow", published 1958. [unison voices and piano]

Date added to the website: 2008-12-07.

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