by James Stephens (1882 - 1950)
The shell
Language: English
And then I pressed the shell Close to my ear And listened well, And straightway like a bell Came low and clear The slow, sad murmur of far distant seas, Whipped by an icy breeze Upon a shore Wind-swept and desolate. It was a sunless strand that never bore The footprint of a man, Nor felt the weight Since time began Of any human quality or stir Save what the dreary winds and waves incur. And in the hush of waters was the sound Of pebbles rolling round, For ever rolling with a hollow sound. And bubbling sea-weeds as the waters go Swish to and fro Their long, cold tentacles of slimy grey. There was no day, Nor ever came a night Setting the stars alight To wonder at the moon; Was twilight only and the frightened croon, Smitten to whimpers, of the dreary wind And waves that journeyed blind And then I loosed my ear O, it was sweet To hear a cart go jolting clown the street.
Authorship:
- by James Stephens (1882 - 1950), "The shell", appears in Insurrections, first published 1909 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Walter Byron Mourant (1910 - 1995), "The shell" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-26
Line count: 30
Word count: 169