Early one morning in May I set out, And nobody I knew was about. I'm bound away for ever, Away somewhere, away for ever. There was no wind to trouble the weathercocks. I had burnt my letters and darned my socks. No one knew I was going away, I thought myself I should come back some day. I heard the brook through the town gardens run. O sweet was the mud turned to dust by the sun. A gate banged in a fence and banged in my head. 'A fine morning, sir', a shepherd said. I could not return from my liberty, To my youth and my love and my misery. The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet, The only sweet thing that is not also fleet. I'm bound away for ever, Away somehwere, away for ever.
Five Edward Thomas Songs: Set 2
by Derek Healey (b. 1936)
1. Song ‑ Early One Morning  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Authorship:
- by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917), "Early One Morning"
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. The Pond  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Bright clouds of May Shade half the pond. Beyond, All but one bay Of emerald Tall reeds Like crisscross bayonets Where a bird once called, Lies bright as the sun. No one heeds. The light wind frets And drifts the scum Of may-blossom. Till the moorhen calls Again. Naught's to be done By birds or men. Still the may falls.
Authorship:
- by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917), "The Pond"
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Researcher for this page: David Kenneth Smith3. Women he liked  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Women he liked, did shovel-bearded Bob, Old Farmer Hayward of the Heath, but he Loved horses. He himself was like a cob, And leather-coloured. Also he loved a tree. For the life in them he loved most living things, But a tree chiefly. All along the lane He planted elms where now the stormcock sings That travellers hear from the slow-climbing train Till then the track had never had a name For all its thicket and the nightingales That should have earned it. No one was to blame. To name a thing beloved man sometimes fails. Many years since, Bob Hayward died, and now None passes there because the mist and the rain Out of the elms have turned the lane to slough And gloom, the name alone survives, Bob's Lane.
Authorship:
- by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917), "Women he liked"
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]4. The Trumpet  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Rise up, rise up, And, as the trumpet blowing [Chases]1 the dreams of men, As the dawn glowing The stars that left unlit The land and water, Rise up and scatter The dew that covers The print of last night's lovers --- Scatter it, scatter it! While you are listening To [the]2 clear horn, Forget, men, everything On this earth newborn, [Except]3 that it is lovelier Than any mysteries. Open your eyes to the air That has washed the eyes of the stars Through all the dewy night: Up with the light, To the old wars; Arise, arise!
Authorship:
- by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917), as Edward Eastaway, "The Trumpet", first published 1917
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Gurney: "Scatters"
2 Gurney: "that"
3 Gurney: "Save"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , David Kenneth Smith
5. Will you come?  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Will you come? [Will you come?]1 Will you ride So late At my side? O, will you come? [Will you come? Will you come]1 If the night Has a moon, [Full and bright? O, will you come]1? [Would you come?]1 Would you come If the noon Gave light, Not the moon? [Beautiful]2, would you come? [Would you have come?]1 Would you have come Without scorning, Had it been Still morning? Beloved, would you have come? If you come Haste and come, Owls have cried; It grows dark To ride. Beloved, beautiful, come.
Authorship:
- by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917), as Edward Eastaway, "Will you come?", first published 1917
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View original text (without footnotes)1 omitted by Maconchy.
2 Maconchy: "O beautiful"
Researcher for this page: David Kenneth Smith
Total word count: 521