by John Godfrey Saxe (1816 - 1887)
Girlhood
Language: English
With rosy cheeks, and merry-dancing curls, And eyes of tender light, O, very beautiful are little girls, And goodly to the sight! Here comes a group to seek my lonely bower, Ere waning Autumn dies, - How like the dew-drops on a drooping flower, Are smiles from gentle eyes! What beaming gladness lights each fairy face The while the elves advance, Now speeding swiftly in a gleesome race, Now whirling in a dance! What heavenly pleasure o'er the spirit rolls, When all the air along Floats the sweet music of untainted souls, In bright, unsullied song! The sacred nymphs that guard this sylvan ground May sport unseen with these, And joy to hear their ringing laugh resound Among the clustering trees! With rosy cheeks, and merry-dancing curls, And eyes of tender light, O, very beautiful are little girls, And goodly to the sight!
Confirmed with The Knickerbocker, vol. 35, New York, 1850.
Authorship:
- by John Godfrey Saxe (1816 - 1887), "Girlhood" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Richard Stöhr (1874 - 1967), "Girlhood", op. 91 (Twelve Songs) no. 12 (1943-1944) [ voice and piano ], unpublished; manuscript at Saint Michael's College Archives and available in scanned form at the Petrucci Music Library [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler
This text was added to the website: 2021-09-12
Line count: 24
Word count: 143