Benjamin Britten
Encinctured with a twine of leaves
Encinctured with a twine of leaves
That leafy twine his only dress!
A lovely Boy was plucking fruits
By moonlight, in a wilderness
The moon was bright, the air was free
And fruits and flowers together grew
On many a shrub and many a tree:
And all put on a gentle hue
Hanging in the shadowy air
Like a picture rich and rare
It was a climate where, they say
The night is more beloved than day
But who that beauteous Boy beguil'd
That beauteous boy to linger here?
Alone, by night, a little child
In place so silеnt and so wild -
Has he no friend, no loving mother nеar?