After (Elgar)

”After” is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1895, as his Op.31, No.1, with the words from a poem by Philip Bourke Marston.^[1][2]

The manuscript is dated 21 June 1895.^[1][2]

The song was first performed by the Irish baritone Harry Plunket Greene in St. James's Hall on 2 March 1900, together with A Song of Flight, Op. 31, No.2.^[1]

Lyrics

AFTER

A little time for laughter,

A little time to sing,

A little time to kiss and cling,

And no more kissing after.

A little while for scheming

Love's unperfected schemes ;

A little time for golden dreams,

Then no more any dreaming.

A little while 'twas given

To me to have thy love ;

Now, like a ghost, alone I move

About a ruined heaven.

A little time for speaking

Things sweet to say and hear ;

A time to seek, and find thee near,

Then no more any seeking.

A little time for saying

Words the heart breaks to say;

A short, sharp time wherein to pray,

Then no more need for praying;

But long, long years to weep in,

And comprehend the whole

Great grief, that desolates the soul,

And eternity to sleep in.

Recordings

• Songs and Piano Music by Edward Elgar has "After" performed by Amanda Pitt (soprano), with David Owen Norris (piano).

References

1. Kennedy, Michael (1987). Portrait of Elgar (Third ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 342. ISBN 0-19-284017-7.
2. Moore, Jerrold Northrop (1984). Edward Elgar: A Creative Life. Oxford University Press. p. 190. ISBN 0-19-315447-1.

• Banfield, Stephen, Sensibility and English Song: Critical studies of the early 20th century (Cambridge University Press, 1985) ISBN 0-521-37944-X