The curtains now are drawn

I

The curtains now are drawn,
And the spindrift strikes the glass,
Blown up the jagged pass
By the surly salt sou'-west,
And the sneering glare is gone
Behind the yonder crest,
While she sings to me:
"O the dream that thou art my Love, be it thine,
And the dream that I am thy Love, be it mine,
And death may come, but loving is divine."

II

I stand here in the rain,
With its smite upon her stone,
And the grasses that have grown
Over women, children, men,
And their texts that "Life is vain";
But I hear the notes as when
Once she sang to me:
"O the dream that thou art my Love, be it thine,
And the dream that I am thy Love, be it mine,
And death may come, but loving is divine."

by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) , "The Curtains now are Drawn", published 1913

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

by Roy Buckle (1926-) , "The curtains now are drawn", subtitle: "Nocturne"
by Andrew Downes (1950-) , "The curtains now are drawn", op. 29 no. 5 (1983), from Old Love's Domain, no. 5.
by Robert H. Patterson , "The curtains now are drawn", published 1927.

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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