Thou didst delight my eyes: Yet who am I? nor first Nor last nor best, that durst Once dream of thee for prize; Nor this the only time Thou shalt set love to rhyme. Thou didst delight my ear: Ah! little praise; thy voice Makes other hearts rejoice, Makes all ears glad that hear; And short my joy; but yet, O song, do not forget. For what were thou to me? How shall I say? The moon, That poured her midnight noon Upon his wrecking sea; - A sail, that for a day Has cheered the castaway.
Five Songs
by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937)
1. Thou didst delight my eyes  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Robert Seymour Bridges (1844 - 1930), "Thou didst delight my eyes", appears in Poems, first published 1880
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. The cherry tree  [sung text checked 1 time]
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough, And stands about the woodland ride Wearing white for Eastertide. Now, of my threescore years and ten, Twenty will not come again, And take from seventy [springs]1 a score, It only leaves me fifty more. And since to look at things in bloom Fifty springs are little room, About the [woodlands]2 I will go To see the cherry hung with snow.
Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in A Shropshire Lad, no. 2, first published 1896
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Patricia Dillard Eguchi) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- HEB Hebrew (עברית) (Max Mader) , "היפה בעצים", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Manton: "years"
2 Steele: "woodland"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. Song of Silence  [sung text checked 1 time]
O my darling how shall I give you thanks enough for any song Beauty God has showed me Time the strong shall not destroy All annoy All evil things may grieve you pass away to comfort leave you. Were the throats of all the singing birds of April mine to say All the thoughts of wonder crowding my adoring heart today even they Flying to you and bringing Love of mine would rest silently clinging.
Authorship:
- by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937)
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]4. Red roses  [sung text not yet checked]
Red roses floating in a crystal bowl You bring, O love; and in your eyes I see, Blossom on blossom, your warm love of me Burning within your crystal soul-- Red roses floating in a crystal bowl.
Authorship:
- by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (1878 - 1962), "Roses", appears in Friends, first published 1916
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]5. The white cascade  [sung text not yet checked]
What happy mortal sees that mountain now, The white cascade that's shining on its brow; The white cascade that's both a bird and star, That has a ten-mile voice and shines as far? Though I may never leave this land again, Yet every spring my mind must cross the main To hear and see that water-bird and star That on the mountain sings, and shines so far.
Authorship:
- by William Henry Davies (1871 - 1940), "The white cascade", appears in Child Lovers and other Poems, first published 1916
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]