On the way to Kew (Henley, set by G. Butterworth, R. Clarke, A. Mallinson, A. Foote) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


On the way to Kew,
By the river old and gray,
Where in the Long Ago
We laughed and loitered so,
I met a ghost today,
A ghost that told of you -
A ghost of low replies
and sweet, inscrutable eyes
Coming up from Richmond
As you used to do.

By the river old and gray,
The enchanted Long Ago
Murmured and smiled anew.
On the way to Kew,
March had the laugh of May,
The bare boughs looked aglow,
And old, immortal words
Sang in my breast like birds,
Coming up from Richmond
As I used to do.

With the life of Long ago
Lived my thought of you
By the river old and gray,
Flowing his appointed way
As I watched I knew what is so good
To know: Not in vain, not in vain,
Shall I look for you again
Coming up from Richmond
On the way to Kew.

Authorship

William Ernest Henley (1849-1903)

A Book of Verses

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

George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (1885-1916)

Love blows as the wind blows

Robert Coningsby Clarke (1879-1934)

Arthur Foote (1853-1937)

(James) Albert Mallinson (1870-1946)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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