Symphony in Yellow'

The sensuous immediacy of Oscar Wilde's vision of the Thames in "Symphony of Yellow" is so striking that it is hard to believe it was written in 1889. This short film by Joshua Black captures this timeless sense of the river's beauty in the fluid grace of Hustling London dancers Inga Be and Damola and in the stirring musical arrangement composed by Patrick Dexter and sung here by the acclaimed Irish vocalist Suzanne Savage.

"Symphony In Yellow"
by Oscar Wilde

An omnibus across the bridge
Crawls like a yellow butterfly,
And, here and there, a passer-by
Shows like a little restless midge.

Big barges full of yellow hay
Are moored against the shadowy wharf,
And, like a yellow silken scarf,
The thick fog hangs along the quay.

The yellow leaves begin to fade
And flutter from the Temple elms,
And at my feet the pale green Thames
Lies like a rod of rippled jade.