A bird upon a rosy bough sang low and long, sang late and loud, Until the young moon's silver prow Had sunk behind a bar of cloud. The south wind paused and held its breath, Sing loud and late, sing low and long While sweet as love and sad as death, The matchless notes rose wide and strong. They rang with rapture, loss and change, Sing low and late, sing long and loud, A tumult passionate and strange, A speechless grief, a patience proud: Till with farewell forevermore, Sing late and loud, sing low and long, Like waves that kiss a barren shore, In sobbing cadence died the song.
Four Songs , opus 40
by John Knowles Paine (1839 - 1906)
1. A bird upon the rosy bough  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
Authorship:
- by Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835 - 1894)
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Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]2. A Farewell  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
My fairest child, I have no song to give you;
No lark could [pipe in]1 skies so dull and gray;
[Yet, if you will, one quiet hint I'll leave]2 you,
For [every]3 day.
[ ... ]
Be good, sweet maid, and let who [can]7 be clever;
Do [lovely]8 things, not dream them, all day long;
And so make Life, Death, and that vast For Ever
One grand sweet song.
Authorship:
- by Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875), "A Farewell: To C. E. G.", written 1856, appears in Andromeda and Other Poems, first published 1858
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View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Frances Eliza Grenfell Kingsley, Charles Kingsley. His Letters and Memories of His Life. Edited by His Wife, H.S. King & Company, 1877, page 487. Note: C. E. G. is the author's niece, Charlotte Grenfell (later Mrs. Theodore Walrond). The second verse was left out by accident when the poem was first published.
1 King: "sing 'neath"2 King: "But, if you will, a quiet hint I'll give"; Paine: "Yet e'er we part, one lesson I can leave"
3 King: "ev'ry"
4 King: "teach"
5 King: "that"
6 King: "win"
7 Paine: "will"
8 King, Paine: "noble"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]