Four Songs , opus 72

by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970)

1. A spring ditty  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
In the spring, ah happy day!
Underneath a leafy spray
With her sister stands my may.
  O sweet love!
  He who now is reft of thee
  Poor is he!

Ah, the trees, how fair they flower
Birds are singing in the bower;
Maidens feel of love the power.
  O sweet love!

See the lilies, how they blow!
And the maidens row by row
Praise the best of gods below.
  O sweet love!

If I held my sweetheart now,
In the wood beneath the bough,
I would kiss her, lip and brow.
  O sweet love!
  He who now is reft of thee,
  Poor is he!

At another time he has clasped it, but he trembles lest it should escape him.

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2. Arietta

Language: English 
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3. The trysting tree

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4. The valley of silence  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
What land of Silence,
  Where pale stars shine
On apple-blossom
  And dew-drenched vine,
  Is yours and mine?

The silent valley
  That we will find,
Where all the voices
  Of humankind
  Are left behind.

There all forgetting,
  Forgotten quite,
We will repose us,
  With our delight
  Hid out of sight.

The world forsaken,
  And out of mind
Honour and labour,
  We shall not find
  The stars unkind.

And men shall travail,
  And laugh and weep;
But we have vistas
  Of gods asleep,
With dreams as deep.

A land of Silence,
  Where pale stars shine
On apple-blossoms
  And dew-drenched vine,
Be yours and mine!

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Confirmed with Ernest Dowson, Verses, London: Leonard Smithers, 1896, pages 32-33. Dedicated to Sam Smith.