Life Has Loveliness to Sell

Representative Text

1 Life has loveliness to sell,
all beautiful and splendid things,
blue waves whitened on a cliff,
soaring fire that sways and sings,
and children's faces looking up,
holding wonder like a cup.

2 Life has loveliness to sell,
as music, like a curve of gold,
scent of pine trees in the rain,
eyes that love you, arms that hold,
and for your spirit's still delight,
holy thoughts that star the night.

3 Spend all you have for loveliness,
to buy and never count the cost;
for one singing hour of peace
count many a year of strive well lost,
and for a breath of ecstasy
give all you have been, or could be.


Source: Singing the Living Tradition #329

Author: Sara Teasdale

American poet Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Life has loveliness to sell
Title: Life Has Loveliness to Sell
Author: Sara Teasdale
Meter: 7.8.7.7.8.7
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

BLISS (Collins)


HALLETT


ARFON (Major)

ARFON is originally a six-phrase Welsh folk tune in minor tonality entitled 'Tros y Garreg." Named for a district on the mainland of northern Wales opposite Mon and Anglesey, the tune was published in Edward Jones's Relicks of the Welsh Bards (1784). In the later nineteenth century ARFON was associa…

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Timeline

Instances

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Text

Singing the Living Tradition #329

Include 6 pre-1979 instances
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