The sigh

Little head against my shoulder, 
Shy at first, then somewhat bolder,
  And up eyed;
Till she, with a timid quaver,
Yielded to the kiss I gave her;
  But, she sighed.

That there mingled with her feeling
Some sad thought she was concealing
  It implied.
- Not that she had ceased to love me,
None on earth she set above me;
  But she sighed.

She could not disguise a passion,
Dread, or doubt, in weakest fasion
  If she tried:
Nothing seemed to hold us sundered,
Hearts were victors; so I wondered
  Why she sighed.

Afterwards I knew her thoroughly,
And she loved me staunchly, truly,
  Till she died;
But she never made confession
Why, at that first sweet concession,
  She had sighed.

It was in our May, remember;
And though now I near November
  And abide
Till my appointed change, unfretting,
Sometimes I sit half regretting
  That she sighed.

Authorship

by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) , "The sigh", from Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses, published 1909

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

by Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) , "The sigh", op. 14 no. 7, published 1933 [tenor and piano], from A Young Man's Exhortation, no. 7.

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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