I need not go (Hardy, set by G. Finzi) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


I need not go
Through sleet and snow
To where I know
She waits for me;
She will tarry me there
Till I find it fair,
And have time to spare
From company.

When I've overgot
The world somewhat,
When things cost not
Such stress and strain,
Is soon enough
By cypress sough
To tell my Love
I am come again.

And if  someday,
When none cries nay,
I still delay
To seek her side,
(Though ample measure
Of fitting leisure
Await my pleasure)
She will not chide.

What not upbraid me
That I delayed me,
Nor ask what stayed me
So long? Ah no!
New cares may claim me,
New loves inflame me,
She will not blame me,
But suffer it so.

Authorship

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

Poems of the Past and Present

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

Gerald Finzi (1901-1956)

I said to love

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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