Is life on Earth a Viler thing Than ever was known before? Who shall we ask-the wise old man Whose years have reached five score? When we have questioned church and state, Is there anyone else to ask? Is it the baby, three weeks old, That wears a gas-proof mask? Is it the infant armed to meet A poisoned earth and sky -- A thing too weak to lift its hand To rub a sleepy eye?
The weeping child
Song Cycle by Richard Roderick-Jones (b. 1947)
?. Armed for war  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Authorship:
- by William Henry Davies (1871 - 1940), "Armed for war", appears in The Loneliest Mountain and Other Poems, first published 1939
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. The weeping child  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
What makes thee weep so, little child, What cause hast thou for all this grief ? When thou art old much cause may be, And tears will bring thee no relief. Thou dost not know thy mother yet, Thou'dst sleep on any bosom near; Thou dost not see a daughter dying, No son is coughing in thy ear. Thy father is a bearded man. Yet any bearded man could take Thee in his arms, and thou not know Which man would die for thy sweet sake. What makes thee weep then, little child, What cause hast thou for all this bother; Whose father could be any man, And any woman be thy mother?
Authorship:
- by William Henry Davies (1871 - 1940), "The weeping child", appears in The Bird of Paradise and Other Poems, first published 1914
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. How kind is sleep  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
How kind is sleep, how merciful: That I last night have seen The happy birds with bosoms pressed Against the leaves so green. Sweet sleep, that made my mind forget My love had gone away; And nevermore I'd touch her soft Warm body, night or day. So, every night deceived by sleep, Let me on roses lie; And leave the thorns of Truth for day, To pierce me till I die.
Authorship:
- by William Henry Davies (1871 - 1940), "How kind is sleep, how merciful", appears in The Song of Life and Other Poems, first published 1920
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. The evening star
Language: English
See how her body pants . . . . . . . . . .— The rest of this text is not
currently in the database but will be
added as soon as we obtain it. —
Authorship:
- by William Henry Davies (1871 - 1940), "The evening star", appears in A Poet's Calendar, first published 1927
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?. The ways of Time  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
[As far as my own heart's concerned, I give old Time contempt ; but when I ask for girls and boys, he brings Me grey-haired dames and men. I ask to see a leafy house, Where Nature almost laughed her way Right in : he shows me a stone block, Bare of a leafy spray.]1 As butterflies are but winged flowers, Half sorry for their change, who fain, So still and long they lie on leaves, Would be thought flowers again E'en so my thoughts, that should expand, And grow to higher themes above, Return like butterflies to lie On the old things I love. I would not care one jot how soon Death came, had I one day at last To be again the boy I was, With children of the past. Age ofttimes grudges me good day ; Children hallo with pleasant stare : When I was young one child ne'er failed She with the longest hair.
Authorship:
- by William Henry Davies (1871 - 1940), "The ways of Time", appears in New Poems, first published 1907
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View original text (without footnotes)1 These two stanzas were omitted from later publications of this poem.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 418