When we are old...

"When we are old..." sets a sonnet of Edna St. Vincent Millay and was premiered at the Hellas Festival in New York City. "When we are old..." is the fourth and final song of Henderson's cycle "Love is not all...", which sets four sonnets of Millay.
"When we are old..." is the twenty-eighth sonnet in Millay's volume of sonnets Fatal Interview, published in 1931.
For visitors interested in obtaining the score to this song, please contact [email protected].

Date: 1994Composer: Alva HendersonText: Edna St. Vincent MillaySong Collection: Love is not all...

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When we are old and these rejoicing veins
Are frosty channels to a muted stream,
And out of all our burning their remains
No feeblest spark to fire us, even in dream,
This be our solace: that it was not said
When we were young and warm and in our prime,
Upon our couch we lay as lie the dead,
Sleeping away the unreturning time.
O sweet, O heavy-lidded, O my love,
When morning strikes her spear upon the land,
And we must rise and arm us and reprove
The insolent daylight with a steady hand,
Be not discountenanced if the knowing know
We rose from rapture but an hour ago.

By Edna St. Vincent Millay

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