"Ah Sunflower" is a poem written by the English poet William Blake

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...

. It was published as part of his collection Songs of Experience in 1794. Ed Sanders

Ed Sanders

Ed Sanders is an American poet, singer, social activist, environmentalist, author and publisher and has been a longtime member of the band The Fugs. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and Hippie generations.-Biography:...

 of The Fugs

The Fugs

The Fugs are a band formed in New York in late 1964 by poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders...

 set the poem to music and recorded it on The Fugs First Album

The Fugs First Album

The Fugs First Album is the 1965 debut album by The Fugs, described in their All Music profile as "arguably the first underground rock group of all time". In 1966, the album charted #142 on Billboard's "Top Pop Albums" chart...

in 1965. For the passing of the 2nd millennium British composer Jonathan Dove

Jonathan Dove

Jonathan Dove is a British composer of opera, choral works, plays, films, and orchestral and chamber music. He has arranged a number of operas for English Touring Opera and the City of Birmingham Touring Opera , including in 1990 a famous 18-player two-evening adaptation of Wagner's Der Ring des...

 set the text of "Ah, Sunflower" and two other poems by Blake ("Invocation" and "The Narrow Bud Opens Her Beauties To The Sun") in his piece "The Passing of the Year" (2000), a song cycle for double chorus and piano. In 2002 the Canadian sisters Kate and Anna McGarrigle

Kate and Anna McGarrigle

Kate and Anna McGarrigle, were a pair of Canadian singer-songwriters from Quebec, who performed as a duo until Kate McGarrigle's death on January 18, 2010.-Profile:...

 wanted to record Ed Sanders' setting in French; they asked Philippe Tatartcheff

Philippe Tatartcheff

Philippe Tatartcheff is a Canadian poet and songwriter who grew up in Timmins, Ontario. His father, Dr. Michael Tatartcheff, was a physician and surgeon in Timmins, and his grandfather, Dr. Assen Tatartcheff, was a member of the Macedonian Liberation Front IMRE...

 to translate the poem, only to find the words no longer scanned with the tune. So they composed a new tune which accommodated both languages. That appeared the following year on their album La vache qui pleure

La vache qui pleure

La vache qui pleure is a 2003 album by Kate and Anna McGarrigle. It is the sisters' second full album of French language songs, following 1980's Entre Lajeunesse et la sagesse....

in both English and French recordings.

The Poem

Ah Sun-flower weary of time.

Who countest the steps of the Sun:

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the travellers journey is done



Where the Youth pined away with desire,

And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow:

Arise from their graves and aspire,

Where my Sun-flower wishes to go!