As it is, plenty; As it's admitted The children happy And the car, the car That goes so far And the wife devoted: To this as it is, To the work and the banks Let his thinning hair And his hauteur Give thanks, give thanks. All that was thought As like as not, is not When nothing was enough But love, but love And the rough future Of an intransigent nature And the betraying smile, Betraying, but a smile: That that is not, is not; Forget, Forget. Let him not cease to praise Then his spacious days; Yes, and the success Let him bless, let him bless: Let him see in this The profits larger And the sins venal, Lest he see as it is The loss as major And final, final.
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Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), appears in Look, Stranger!, first published 1936 [author's text not yet checked 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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "As it is, plenty", op. 11 no. 5 (1937), published 1938 [ high voice, piano ], from On This Island, no. 5, note: score contains a French translation by Maurice Pourchet [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 31
Word count: 132