At a Watering Place (Hardy, set by B. Roe) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


They sit and smoke on the esplanade,
The man and his friend, and regard the bay
Where the far chalk cliffs, to the left displayed,
Smile sallowly in the decline of day.
And saunterer's pass with laugh and jest --
A handsome couple among the rest.

'That smart proud pair,' says the man to his friend,
'Are to marry next week.... How little he thinks
That dozens of days and nights on end
I have stroked her neck, unhooked the links
Of her sleeve to get at her upper arm....
Well, bliss is in ignorance: what's the harm!'

Input by Iain Sneddon

Authorship

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries with Miscellaneous Pieces

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

Betty Roe (1930-)

Satires of Circumstance

Date added to the website: 2009-10-15.

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