After (Elgar)

”After” is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1895, as his Op.31, No.1. The words are by Philip Bourke Marston.

[edit] Lyrics

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.

Kennedy, Michael, Portrait of Elgar (Oxford University Press, 1968) ISBN 0193154145
Moore, Jerrold N. “Edward Elgar: a creative life” (Oxford University Press, 1984) ISBN 0193154471