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Archive notice. This is a historical page from the ItalianOpera archive (website online since 1995). Some formatting and links may reflect the original legacy structure.

TESTO DEL LIED

"I went to the Garden of Love"
di William Blake (1757-1827)

I went to the Garden of Love,
and saw what I never had seen:
A chapel was built in the midst,
where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of this chapel were shut,
and "Thou shalt not" writ over the door;
So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,
that so many, many sweet flowers bore;
And I saw it was filled with graves,
and tombstones where flowers should be;
and priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
and binding with briars my joys and desires.