Fly, singing bird, fly (Elgar, set by E. Elgar) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Fly, singing bird, fly,
From the wood where lies shelter'd thy nest,
From the tree whence thou pourest thy song,
Fly away, far away to the west,
Tell my love that I wait,
Ah! too long and lonely, I wait.

Fly, singing bird, fly,
O'er the blossoming meadows, where grow
Yellow cowslips and daffodils pale.
Say I wait where anemones blow,
Weary wait, till with waiting I
Fail, and failing, I sigh.

Fly, singing bird, fly,
Leave thy nest 'midst the wood, lone, unsought,
Leave the cradling boughs, spread thy wing,
And swift as my following thought,
Onward speed, and swift flying, still sing,
Come, or I die!

Authorship

Caroline Alice Elgar, née Roberts (1848-1920)

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

Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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