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Text
Sweet little red feet
English source:
John Keats
I had a dove and the sweet dove died;
And I have thought it died of grieving:
Oh, what could it grieve for? Its feet were tied,
With a silken thread of my own hand’s weaving;
Sweet little red feet! why should you die —
Why should you leave me, sweet dove! Why?
You liv’d alone on the forest-tree,
Why, pretty thing! Could you not live with me?
I kiss’d you oft and gave you white peas;
Why not live sweetly, as in the green trees?
_'I had a Dove and the sweet Dove died'_
- John Keats
And I have thought it died of grieving:
Oh, what could it grieve for? Its feet were tied,
With a silken thread of my own hand’s weaving;
Sweet little red feet! why should you die —
Why should you leave me, sweet dove! Why?
You liv’d alone on the forest-tree,
Why, pretty thing! Could you not live with me?
I kiss’d you oft and gave you white peas;
Why not live sweetly, as in the green trees?
_'I had a Dove and the sweet Dove died'_
- John Keats
Composer
Judith Weir
Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. She went on to…
Poet
John Keats
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his works having been in publication for…