A Song of Enchantment
- mrymntcpw
- Jul 13
- 1 min read
The Cambridge Dictionary defines Enchantment as: a feeling of great pleasure and attraction, especially something very beautiful
Widdershins means “counterclockwise”
Today I offer you, “A Song of Enchantment”.
A Song of Enchantment I sang me there,
In a green — green wood, by waters fair,
Just as the words came up to me
I sang it under the wild wood tree.
Widdershins turned I, singing it low,
Watching the wild birds come and go;
No cloud in the deep dark blue to be seen
Under the thick-thatched branches green.
Twilight came; silence came;
The planet of evening's silver flame;
By darkening paths I wandered through
Thickets trembling with drops of dew.
But the music is lost and the words are gone
Of the song that I sang as I sat alone,
Ages and ages have fallen on me —
On the wood and the pool and the elder tree.
Words by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "A Song of Enchantment", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 8. Songs, no. 4, first published 1913
One scholar describes the poem as “a beautiful and moving meditation on the passage of time and the transience of beauty. It is a reminder that even the most cherished things are not permanent.”
The poem was set to music by British composer, Benjamin Britten in January 1929. His music, like Mozart’s, is often perfectly crafted with no extraneous notes. This song is lean, but captures the beauty and poignancy of the text.
The following performance is by C. Patrick Woliver, singer; and Jeffrey Wood, pianist.
CPW
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