When I was out one morning -- In a meadow, white with sheep, Lay a shepherd by a haystack Fast asleep. With me the lark was carolling, There was gold and green and blue; But what, you drowsy shepherd, Was with you? Was it night and water gushing And moonbeams cold and clear On the softly silver-slipping Dripping weir? Was it childhood, was it sweetheart, Was it distant isles and seas, Day of Judgment, Harvest Home, or Bread and cheese?
Silvery Songs
Song Cycle by Rick Sowash (b. 1950)
1. The shepherd  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956)
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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Researcher for this page: Paul Ezust [Guest Editor]2. Silver  [sung text checked 1 time]
Slowly, silently, now the moon Walks the night in her silver shoon; This way, and that, she peers and sees Silver fruit upon silver trees; One by one the casements catch Her beams beneath the silvery thatch; Couched in his kennel, like a log, With paws of silver sleeps the dog; [From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep]1 A harvest mouse goes scampering by, With silver claws, and silver eye; And moveless fish in the water gleam, By silver reeds in a silver stream.
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Silver", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 7. Earth and Air, no. 4, first published 1913
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
View original text (without footnotes)1 omitted by Bachlund, Britten, Duke, Gibbs.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. The snowflake  [sung text checked 1 time]
Before I melt, Come, look at me! This lovely icy filigree! Of a great forest In one night I make a wilderness Of white: By skyey cold Of crystals made, All softly, on Your finger laid, I pause, that you My beauty see: Breathe, and I vanish Instantly.
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "The snowflake"
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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Researcher for this page: David Sims [Guest Editor]4. Wanderers  [sung text checked 1 time]
Wide are the meadows of night, And daisies are shinng there, Tossing their lovely dews, Lustrous and fair; And through these sweet fields go, Wanderers amid the stars -- Venus, Mercury, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars. 'Tired in their silver, they move, And circling, whisper and say, Fair are the blossoming meads of delight Through which we stray.
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Wanderers", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 7. Earth and Air, no. 6, first published 1913
See other settings of this text.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]5. Rain  [sung text checked 1 time]
I woke in the swimming dark And heard, now sweet, now shrill, The voice of the rain-water Cold and still, Endlessly sing; now faint, In the distance borne away; Now in the air float near, But nowhere stay; Singing I know not what, Echoing on and on; Following me in sleep, Till night was gone.
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Rain", appears in Bells and Grass: A Book of Rhymes, first published 1941
See other settings of this text.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Researcher for this page: David Sims [Guest Editor]