by Louise Imogen Guiney (1861 - 1920)
A Song of Leinster
Language: English
I try to knead and spin, but my life is low the while, Oh, I long to be alone and walk abroad a mile! Yet if I walk alone, and think of naught at all, Why from me that's young should the wild tears fall? The shower-stricken earth, the earth-colour'd streams, They breathe on me awake and moan to me in dreams; And yonder ivy fondling the broke castle wall, It pulls upon my heart till the wild tears fall. The cabin door looks down a furze-lighted hill, And far as Leighlin Cross the fields are green and still; But once I hear the blackbird in Leighlin hedges call, The foolishness is on me and the wild tears fall.
Authorship:
- by Louise Imogen Guiney (1861 - 1920) [author's text not yet checked 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):
- by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "A Song of Leinster", op. 305 (1951), published 1971 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Ken Edensor
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 119