Sound the Flute! Now [it's]1 mute. Birds delight Day and Night; Nightingale In the dale, Lark in Sky,2 Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, To welcome in the Year. Little Boy, Full of Joy; Little Girl, Sweet and small; Cock does crow, So do you; Merry voice, Infant noise; Merrily, Merrily, To welcome in the Year. Little Lamb, Here I am; Come and [lick My white neck;]3 Let me pull Your soft Wool; Let me kiss Your soft face; Merrily, Merrily, [We]4 welcome in the Year.
Four Songs from William Blake
Song Cycle by Arthur Hinton (1869 - 1941)
1. Spring  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Spring", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 15, first published 1789
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)1 MacNutt: "'tis"
2 Dougherty inserts "Out of sight" after this line
3 MacNutt: "play/ Hours away"
4 MacNutt: "To"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
2. The fly  [sung text not yet checked]
Little Fly, Thy summer's play My thoughtless hand Has brush'd away. Am not I A fly like thee? Or art not thou A man like me? For I dance And drink & sing: Till some blind hand Shall brush my wing. If thought is life And strength & breath And the want Of thought is death; Then am I A happy fly, If I live, Or if I die.
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The fly", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 10, first published 1794
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La mouche", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Мотылёк", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
3. A cradle song  [sung text not yet checked]
Sweet dreams, form a shade [O'er]1 my lovely infant's head! Sweet dreams of pleasant streams By happy, silent, moony beams! Sweet Sleep, with soft down Weave thy brows an infant crown. Sweet Sleep, angel mild, Hover o'er my happy child! Sweet smiles, in the night Hover over my delight! Sweet smiles, mother's [smile]2, All the livelong night [beguile]3. Sweet moans, dovelike sighs, Chase not slumber from thine eyes! Sweet moan, sweeter [smile]2, All the dovelike moans [beguile]3. Sleep, sleep, happy child! All creation slept and smiled. Sleep, sleep, happy sleep, While o'er thee [thy]4 mother weep. Sweet babe, in thy face Holy image I can trace; Sweet babe, once like thee Thy Maker lay, and wept for me: Wept for me, for thee, for all, When He was an infant small. Thou His image ever see, Heavenly face that smiles on thee! Smiles on thee, on me, on all, Who became an infant small; Infant smiles are His own smiles; Heaven and earth to peace beguiles.
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "A cradle song", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 11, first published 1789
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)1 Carmichael: "Round"
2 Carmichael: "smiles"
3 Carmichael: "beguiles"
4 Baxter: "doth"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. I love the jocund dance  [sung text not yet checked]
I love the [jocund]1 dance, The softly breathing song, Where innocent eyes do glance, [And]2 where lisps the maiden's tongue. I love the laughing vale, I love the echoing [hills]3, Where mirth does never fail, And the jolly swain laughs his fill. I love the pleasant cot, I love the innocent bow'r, Where white and brown is our lot, Or fruit in the midday hour. I love the oaken seat, Beneath the oaken tree, Where all the [old]2 villagers meet, And laugh [our]4 sports to see. I love our neighbors all, But Kitty, I [better love thee]5; And love them [I ever]6 shall; But thou art all to me.
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Song"
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)1 Mitchell: "merry"
2 not set by Mitchell.
3 Mitchell: "hill"
4 Mitchell: "my"
5 Mitchell: "love thee more"
6 Mitchell: "ever I"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]