A little sound -- Only a little, a little -- The breath in a reed, A trembling fiddle; A trumpet's ring, The shuddering drum; So all the glory, bravery, hush Of music come. A little sound -- Only a stir and a sigh Of each green leaf Its fluttering neighbour by; Oak on to oak, The wide dark forest through -- So o'er the watery wheeling world The night winds go. A little sound -- Only a little, a little -- The thin high drone Of the simmering kettle, The gathering frost, The click of needle and thread; Mother, the fading wall, the dream, The drowsy bed.
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Confirmed with Peacock Pie. A Book of Rhymes by Walter de la Mare, London: Constable & Co. Ltd., [1920], page 153.
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Many a mickle", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 7. Earth and Air, no. 1, first published 1913 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
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Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2014-06-12
Line count: 24
Word count: 101