Brief on a flying night, From the shaken tower, A flock of bells take flight, And go with the hour. Like birds from the cote to the gales, Abrupt -- oh, hark! -- A fleet of bells set sails, And go to the dark. Sudden the cold airs swing: Alone, aloud, A verse of bells takes wing And flies with the cloud.
A Book of Five Songs , opus 127
by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949)
1. Chimes [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Text Authorship:
- by Alice Christina Meynell (1847 - 1922), "Chimes", appears in Later Poems, first published 1902
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2. At night [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Home, home from the horizon far and clear, Hither the soft wings sweep; Flocks of the memories of the day draw near The dovecote doors of sleep. Oh, which are they that come through sweetest light Of all these homing birds? Which with the straightest and the swiftest flight? Your words to me, your words!
Text Authorship:
- by Alice Christina Meynell (1847 - 1922), "At night", appears in Other Poems, first published 1896
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3. A cradle song [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
O men from the fields, Come gently within, Tread softly, softly, O men, coming in... [For]1 [m'mhurnin]2 is going From me and from you Where Mary will fold him With mantle of blue, From reek of the smoke And cold of the floor And [peering]3 of things Across the half-door. O men from the fields, Softly, softly come through; Mary puts round him Her mantle of blue.
Text Authorship:
- by Padraic Colum (1881 - 1972), "A cradle song", appears in Wild Earth, first published 1907
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View original text (without footnotes)1 omitted by Coulthard and Moeran
2 Coulthard, Moeran, and Weigl: "Mavourneen"
3 Moeran: "the peering"
4. When June is come [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
When June is come, then all the day I'll sit with my love in the scented hay: And watch the sunshot palaces high, That the white clouds build in the breezy sky. She singeth, and I do make her a song, And read sweet poems the whole day long: Unseen as we lie in our haybuilt home, O, life is delight when June is come.
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Seymour Bridges (1844 - 1930), no title, appears in The Shorter Poems of Robert Bridges, first published 1890
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5. Farewell [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Not soon shall I forget -- a sheet Of golden water, cold and sweet, The young moon with her head in veils Of silver, and the nightingales. A wain of hay came up the lane -- O fields I shall not walk again, And trees I shall not see, so still Against a sky of daffodil! Fields where my happy heart had rest, And where my heart was heaviest, I shall remember them at peace Drenched in moon-silver like a fleece. The golden water sweet and cold, The moon of silver and of gold, The dew upon the gray grass-spears, I shall remember them with tears.