A young man's exhortation

Call off your eyes from care
By some determined deftness; put forth joys
Dear as excess without the core that cloys,
  And charm Life's lourings fair.

  Exalt and crown the hour
That girdles us, and fill it with glee,
Blind glee, excelling aught could ever be,
  Were heedfulness in power.

  Send up such touching strains
That limitless recruits from Fancy's pack
Shall rush upon your tongue, and tender back
  All that your soul contains.

  For what do we know best?
That a fresh love-leaf crumpled soon will dry,
And that men moment after moment die,
  Of all scope dispossest.

  If I have seen one thing
It is the passing preciousness of dreams;
That aspects are within us; and who seems
  Most kingly is the King.

by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) , "A young man's exhortation", from Late Lyrics and Earlier with Many Other Verses, published 1922

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) , "A young man's exhortation", op. 14 no. 1, published 1933 [tenor and piano], from A Young Man's Exhortation, no. 1.

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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