by Mary Elizabeth Blake, née McGrath (1840 - 1907)
An Irish mother's lullaby
Language: English
My dearie! My wee thing! The world is a cold, the sullen winter's piping is shrill across the wold; No bloom is in the garden, No leaf upon the tree, But in your eyes, my bright one, The summer stays with me. Macushla! My birdling! The glad song is still That used to wake the morning upon the rolling hill; The hunger and the silence Lie heavy upon men, But in your voice my starling, The dawning sings again. My heart's love! My own one! The dark time is drear; The lowness should be on me, The sorrow and the fear. But God forgive my daring! I'm laughing night and day With you upon my bossom, My little breath of May.
Authorship:
- by Mary Elizabeth Blake, née McGrath (1840 - 1907) [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 Margaret Ruthven Lang (1867 - 1972), "An Irish mother's lullaby", op. 34, published 1900 [vocal trio for 2 sopranos and alto ; or SSA chorus ; violin part added in 1910], Schmidt [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Abigail Imhof
This text was added to the website: 2012-05-17
Line count: 24
Word count: 121