The green river (Douglas, set by J. Carpenter, R. Birch, W. Pasfield) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


I know a green grass path that leaves the field
  And, like a running river, winds along
  Into a leafy wood, where is no throng
Of birds at noon-day; and no soft throats yield
Their music to the moon.  The place is sealed,
  An unclaimed sovereignty of voiceless song,
  And all th' unravished silences belong
To some sweet singer lost, or unrevealed.

So is my soul become a silent place.
  Oh, may I wake from this uneasy night
  To find some voice of music manifold.
Let it be shape of sorrow with wan face,
  Or love, that swoons on sleep, or else delight
  That is as wide-eyed as a marigold.

Input by Geoffrey Wieting

Authorship

Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (1870-1945)

Sonnets by Lord Alfred Douglas

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

Robert Fairfax Birch (1917-)

John Alden Carpenter (1876-1951)

William Reginald Pasfield (1909-)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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