While the sun was going down, There arose a fairy town. Not the town I saw by day, Cheerless, joyless, dull and gray, But a far, fantastic place, Builded with ethereal grace, Shimmering in a tender mist That the slanting rays had kissed Ere they let their latest fire Touch with gold each slender spire. There no men and women be: Mermen, maidens of the sea, Combing out their tangled locks, Sit and sing amound the rocks. As their ruddy harps they sound With the seaweed twisted round, In the shining sand below See the city downward go!
Four Dramatic Songs
Song Cycle by Cyril Bradley Rootham (1875 - 1938)
?. St. Andrew's  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Authorship:
- by Mary Coleridge (1861 - 1907), "St. Andrew's", appears in Poems, no. 26, first published 1907
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Researcher for this page: John Fowler?. Imagination  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
I called you, fiery spirits, and ye came! Earth was the earth no more; the solid ground Was as a maze of cloud-like glories found, The sun was music and the wind was flame. A rainbow shone about the sacred name Of all the virtues. Thought in rapture drowned, Wild ecstasy it was to hear the sound, The fluttering of the wings of Love and Fame. I called you, fiery spirits! When your task Was over, faint, weary, and short of breath, I would have driven you hence. I did but ask The old life that I led, the life beneath. In vain! The world henceforward seems a masque Fit for the haunted rooms of dreamy death.
Authorship:
- by Mary Coleridge (1861 - 1907), "Imagination", appears in Poems, no. 108, first published 1907
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. Unwelcome  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
We were young, we were merry, we were very very wise, And the door stood open at our feast, When there passed us a woman with the West in her eyes, And a man with his back to the East. O, still grew the hearts that were beating so fast, The loudest voice was still. The jest died away on our lips as they passed, And the rays of July struck chill. The cups of red wine turned pale on the board, The white bread black as soot. The hound forgot the hand of her lord, She fell down at his foot. Low let me lie, where the dead dog lies, Ere I sit me down again at a feast, When there passes a woman with the West in her eyes, And a man with his back to the East.
Authorship:
- by Mary Coleridge (1861 - 1907), "Unwelcome", appears in Poems, no. 66, first published 1907
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. Over the hills  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
All around was dumb and still, Dumb and still as any stone. We went together over the hill, But I came back alone. All around was gray and dun, Gray and dun by sea and shore. When twilight fell, my love saw one, Where she saw two before. All around was barren ground, Barren ground lay far and near. I left him with a gaping wound, And what had I to fear? When she asks me what befell, What befell on Lady Day, I, her lord, that love her well, Whisper in her ear and say -- "All around was dumb and still, Dumb and still as any stone. We went together over the hill, But I came back alone."
Authorship:
- by Mary Coleridge (1861 - 1907), ""Over the hills and far away"", appears in Poems, no. 17, first published 1907
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]Total word count: 474