Almond, wild almond (Trench, set by A. Bax, G. Peel, F. Young) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Almond, wild almond, 
Give counsel to me, 
And hush thy fierce lover 
The wind in the tree ! 

Along the night pasture 
I've come through the dew 
To tell thee, wild almond, 
The old songs are true ! 

Like the flower on thy branches 
The heart in me springs 
With airs and upliftings 
And hundreds of wings ! 

I, too, have a lover . . . 
Keep, keep it from them --
The wise ones that eye me --
Thou whispering stem ! 

I deal with him coldly --
I dash him with pride : 
Yet he comes of evenings 
And stands at my side. 

O had he entreated 
I could have said nay, 
But he, he says nothing 
And then goes away ! 

Ah, loves he for ever ? . . . 
And loves me alone? . . . 
These things that men say not 
How can they be known ? 

He may, but he may not,
And I would be free : --
Now play not, now sway not, 
Thou little black tree, 

Almond, wild almond, 
Give counsel to me !

Authorship

(Frederic) Herbert Trench (1865-1923)

New Poems

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

Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax (1883-1953)

Three Songs

(Gerald) Graham Peel (1878-1937)

Francis Brett Young (1884-1954)

Date added to the website: 2008-12-31.

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