Men's Voices
Lord of the lotus, lord of the harvest,
Bright and munificent lord of the morn!
Thine is the bounty that prospered our sowing.
Thine is the bounty that nurtured our corn.
We bring thee our songs and our garlands for tribute,
The gold of our fields and the gold of our fruit;
O giver of mellowing radiance, we hail thee,
We praise thee, O Surya, with cymbal and flute.
Women's Voices
Queen of the gourd-flower, queen of the harvest,
Sweet and omnipotent mother, O Earth!
Thine is the plentiful bosom that feeds us,
Thine is the womb where our riches have birth.
We bring thee our love and our garlands for tribute,
With gifts of thy opulent giving we come;
O source of our manifold gladness, we hail thee,
We praise thee, O Prithvi, with cymbal and drum.
[ ... ]
All Voices
Lord of the Universe, Lord of our being,
Father eternal, ineffable Om!
Thou art the Seed and the Scythe of our harvests,
Thou art our Hands and our Heart and our Home.
We bring thee our lives and our labours for tribute,
Grant us thy succour, thy counsel, thy care.
O Life of all life and all blessing, we hail thee.
We praise thee, O Bramha, with cymbal and prayer.
The Golden Threshold : An Indian Song-Garland
Song Cycle by Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918)
1. Harvest Hymn  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "Harvest Hymn", appears in The Golden Threshold, in 1. Folk Songs
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Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, London: William Heinemann, 1905.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. Song of a Dream  [sung text checked 1 time]
Once in the dream of a night I stood Lone in the light of a magical wood, Soul-deep in visions that poppy-like sprang; And spirits of Truth were the birds that sang, And spirits of Love were the stars that glowed, And spirits of Peace were the streams that flowed In that magical wood in the land of sleep. Lone in the light of that magical grove, I felt the stars of the spirits of Love Gather and gleam round my delicate youth, And I heard the song of the spirits of Truth; To quench my longing I bent me low By the streams of the spirits of Peace that flow In that magical wood in the land of sleep.
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "Song of a Dream", appears in The Golden Threshold, in 2. Songs for Music
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Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, London: William Heinemann, 1905.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. Henna  [sung text checked 1 time]
A kokila called from a henna-spray: Lira! liree! Lira! liree! Hasten, maidens, hasten away To gather the leaves of the henna-tree. Send your pitchers afloat on the tide. Gather the leaves ere the dawn be old. Grind them in mortars of amber and gold, The fresh green leaves of the henna-tree. A kokila called from a henna-spray: Lira! liree! Lira! liree! Hasten maidens, hasten away To gather the leaves of the henna-tree. The tilka's red for the brow of a bride, And betel-nut's red for lips that are sweet; But, for lily-like fingers and feet. The red, the red of the henna-tree.
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "In Praise of Henna", appears in The Golden Threshold, in 1. Folk Songs
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Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, London: William Heinemann, 1905.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. Palanquin‑Bearers  [sung text checked 1 time]
Lightly, O lightly we bear her along, She sways like a [flower]1 in the wind of our song; She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream, She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream. Gaily, O gaily, we glide and we sing, We bear her along like a pearl on a string. Softly, O softly, we bear her along, She hangs like a star in the dew of our song; She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide, She falls like a tear from the [eyes]2 of a bride. Lightly, O lightly, we glide and we sing, We bear her along like a pearl on a string.
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "Palanquin-Bearers", appears in The Golden Threshold, in 1. Folk Songs, first published 1917
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, London: William Heinemann, 1905.
1 Shaw: "flow'r"2 Shaw: "eye"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
5. The Serpents are Asleep  [sung text checked 1 time]
The serpents are asleep among the poppies,
The fireflies light the soundless panther's way
To tangled paths where shy gazelles are straying,
And parrot-plumes outshine the dying day.
O soft! the lotus-buds upon the stream
Are stirring like sweet maidens when they dream.
[ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "Leili", appears in The Golden Threshold, in 3. Poems
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Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, London: William Heinemann, 1905.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
6. The Snake‑Charmer  [sung text checked 1 time]
Whither dost thou hide from the magic of my flute-call? In what moonlight-tangled meshes of perfume, Where the clustering keovas guard the squirrel's slumber, Where the deep woods glimmer with the jasmine's bloom? I'll feed thee, O beloved, on milk and wild red honey, I'll bear thee in a basket of rushes, green and white, To a palace-bower where golden-vested maidens Thread with mellow laughter the petals of delight. Whither dost thou loiter, by what murmuring hollows, Where oleanders scatter their ambrosial fire? Come, thou subtle bride of my mellifluous wooing, Come, thou silver-breasted moonbeam of desire!
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "The Snake-Charmer", appears in The Golden Threshold, in 1. Folk Songs
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Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, London: William Heinemann, 1905.
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
7. The Royal Tombs of Golconda  [sung text checked 1 time]
I muse among these silent fanes Whose spacious darkness guards your dust; Around me sleep the hoary plains That hold your ancient wars in trust. I pause, my dreaming spirit hears, Across the wind's unquiet tides, The glimmering music of your spears, The laughter of your royal brides. In vain, O Kings, doth time aspire To make your names oblivion's sport, While yonder hill wears like a tiar The ruined grandeur of your fort. Though centuries falter and decline, Your proven strongholds shall remain Embodied memories of your line, Incarnate legends of your reign. O Queens, in vain old Fate decreed Your flower-like bodies to the tomb; Death is in truth the vital seed Of your imperishable bloom. Each new-born year the bulbuls sing Their songs of your renascent loves; Your beauty wakens with the spring To kindle these pomegranate groves.
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "The Royal Tombs of Golconda", appears in The Golden Threshold, in 3. Poems
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Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, London: William Heinemann, 1905.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
8. Love Song  [sung text checked 1 time]
Come to me, sweet, on silver-girt feet! Come with a kiss on thy lotus lips' bloom! Come to me, love, like a moon in the gloom, And strangle my soul in thy kisses' perfume! You flaunt your beauty in the rose, Your glory in the dawn, Your sweetness in the nightingale, Your whiteness in the swan. Yet when I crave of you, my sweet, One tender moment's grace, You cry: "I sit behind the veil, I cannot show my face." You haunt my waking like a dream, My slumber like a moon, Pervade me with a musky scent, Possess me like a tune. Shall any foolish veil divide My longing from my bliss? Shall any fragile curtain hide Your beauty from my kiss? What war is this of thee and me? Give o'er the wanton strife, You are the heart within my heart, The life within my life.
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949)
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
9. Like a Serpent  [sung text checked 1 time]
She Like a serpent to the calling voice of flutes, Glides my heart into thy fingers, O my Love! Where the night-wind, like a lover, leans above His jasmine-gardens and sirisha-bowers; And on ripe boughs of many-coloured fruits Bright parrots cluster like vermilion flowers. He Like the perfume in the petals of a rose, Hides thy heart within my bosom, O my love! Like a garland, like a jewel, like a dove That hangs its nest in the asoka-tree. Lie still, O love, until the morning sows Her tents of gold on fields of ivory.
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "Indian Love-Song", appears in The Golden Threshold, in 1. Folk Songs
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Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, London: William Heinemann, 1905.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
10. Nightfall in Hyderabad  [sung text checked 1 time]
See how the speckled sky burns like a pigeon's throat, Jewelled with embers of opal and peridote. See the white river that flashes and scintillates, Curved like a tusk from the mouth of the city-gates. Hark, from the minaret, how the muezzin's call Floats like a battle-flag over the city wall. From trellised balconies, languid and luminous Faces gleam, veiled in a splendour voluminous. Leisurely elephants wind through the winding lanes. Swinging their silver bells hung from their silver chains. Round the high Char Minar sounds of gay cavalcades Blend with the music of cymbals and serenades. Over the city bridge, Night comes majestical, Borne like a queen to a sumptuous festival.
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "Nightfall in the City of Hyderabad", appears in The Golden Threshold, in 3. Poems
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Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, London: William Heinemann, 1905.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
11. Cradle song  [sung text checked 1 time]
From groves of spice, O'er field or rice, Athwart the lotus stream, I bring [for]1 you, Aglint with dew, A [little lovely]2 dream. Sweet, shut your eyes. The wild fire-flies Dance through the fairy neem; From poppy-bole For you I stole A [little lovely]2 dream. Dear eyes, good-night, In golden light The stars around you gleam; On you I press, With soft caress, A [little lovely]2 dream.
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "Cradle song", appears in The Golden Threshold, in 1. Folk Songs
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, London: William Heinemann, 1905.
1 Ware: "to"2 Ware: "lovely little"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
12. To a Buddha seated on a Lotus  [sung text checked 1 time]
Lord Buddha, on thy Lotus-throne, With praying eyes and hands elate, What mystic rapture dost thou own, Immutable and ultimate? What peace, unravished of our ken, Annihilate from the world of men? The wind of change for ever blows Across the tumult of our way, To-morrow’s unborn griefs depose The sorrows of our yesterday. Dream yields to dream, strife follows strife, And Death unweaves the webs of Life. For us the travail and the heat, The broken secrets of our pride, The strenuous lessons of defeat, The flower deferred, the fruit denied; But not the peace, supremely won, Lord Buddha, of thy Lotus-throne. The end, elusive and afar, Still lures us with its beckoning flight, And all our mortal moments are A session of the Infinite. How shall we reach the great, unknown Nirvana of thy Lotus-throne?
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "To a Buddha seated on a Lotus", appears in The Golden Threshold, in 3. Poems
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Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, London: William Heinemann, 1905. Note: in this edition, only stanzas 1 and 2 appear; also confirmed with The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse, edited by Nicholson & Lee. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1917.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
13. Indian Dancers  [sung text checked 1 time]
The music sighs and slumbers, It stirs and sleeps again . . . Hush, it wakes and weeps and murmurs Like a woman's heart in pain; Now it laughs and calls and coaxes, Like a lover in the night, Now it pants with sudden longing, Now it sobs with spent delight. Like bright and wind-blown lilies, The dancers sway and shine, Swift in a rhythmic circle, Soft in a rhythmic line; Their lithe limbs gleam like amber Thro' their veils of golden gauze, As they glide and bend and beckon, As they wheel and wind and pause. The voices of lutes and cymbals Fail on the failing breeze, And the midnight's soul grows weary With the scent of the champak trees; But the subtle feet of the dancers In a long, returning chain, Wake in the heart of lovers Love's ecstasy and pain.
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "The Dance of Love", appears in The Bird of Time - Songs of Life, Death, and the Spring, in 1. Songs of Love and Death
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Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Bird of Time. Songs of Life, Death & the Spring, London: William Heinemann, 1912.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
14. New leaves grow green  [sung text checked 1 time]
[Young]1 leaves grow green on the banyan twigs,
And red on the [peepul]2 tree,
The honey-birds pipe to the budding figs,
And honey-blooms call the bee.
Kingfishers ruffle the feathery sedge,
And all the vivid air thrills
With butterfly-wings in the wild-rose hedge,
And the [luminous]3 blue of the hills.
[ ... ]
Kamala tinkles a lingering foot
[In the grove where temple-bells ring,
And Krishna plays]4 on his bamboo flute
An idyll of [love and spring]5.
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "Spring", appears in The Bird of Time - Songs of Life, Death, and the Spring, in 2. Songs of the Springtime
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View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Bird of Time. Songs of Life, Death & the Spring, London: William Heinemann, 1912.
1 Lehmann: "New"2 Lehmann: "almond"
3 Lehmann: "tremulous"
4 Lehmann: "By the shrine in the tamarind grove,/ While Gopal blows"
5 Lehmann: "spring and love"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
15. Alabaster  [sung text checked 1 time]
Like this alabaster box whose art Is frail as a cassia-flower, is my heart, Carven with delicate dreams and wrought With many a subtle and exquisite thought. Therein I treasure the spice and scent Of rich and passionate memories blent Like odours of cinnamon, sandal and clove, Of song and sorrow and life and love.
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "Alabaster", appears in The Golden Threshold, in 2. Songs for Music
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Confirmed with Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold, London: William Heinemann, 1905.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
16. At the Threshold  [sung text checked 1 time]
In childhood's pride I said to Thee:
'O Thou, who mad'st me of Thy breath,
Speak, Master, and reveal to me
Thine inmost laws of life and death.
'Give me to drink each joy and pain
Which Thine eternal hand can mete,
For my insatiate soul [can drain
Earth's utmost bitter, utmost sweet.]1
'Spare me no bliss, no pang of strife,
Withhold no gift or grief I crave,
The intricate lore of love and life
And [mystic]2 knowledge of the grave.'
Lord, Thou didst answer [stern]3 and low:
'Child, I will hearken to thy prayer,
And thy unconquered soul shall know
[All passionate]4 rapture and despair.
'So shall thy chastened spirit yearn
[To seek from its blind prayer release]5,
And spent and pardoned, sue to learn
The simple [secret]6 of My peace.
[ ... ]
I, bending from my sevenfold height,
[Will]7 teach thee of My quickening grace,
Life is a prism of My light,
And Death the shadow of My face.'
Authorship:
- by Sarojini Naidu (1879 - 1949), "The Soul's Prayer"
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Lehmann: "would drain/ Of earth's most bitter cup, or sweet!"
2 Lehmann: "subtle"
3 Lehmann: "clear"
4 Lehmann: "Each poignant"
5 Lehmann: "From its blind prayer to be released"
6 Lehmann: "secrets"
7 Lehmann: "Shall"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]