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We Happy Few

Song Cycle by Richard Jackson Cumming (b. 1928)

1. The Feast of Crispian
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
WESTMORELAND.
 ... 

KING (Henry V).
 ... 
 This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
 He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
 Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
 And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
 He that shall live this day, and see old age,
 Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
 And say, "To-morrow is Saint Crispian."
 Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
 And say, "These wounds I had on Crispian's day."
 Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
 But he'll remember  ... 
 What feats he did that day.  ... 
 This story shall the good man teach his son;
 And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
  ... 
 But we in it shall be remembered,
 We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
 For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
 Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
 This day shall gentle his condition;
 And gentlemen in England now a-bed
 Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
 And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
 That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

SALISBURY
  ... 

KING (Henry V).
  ... 

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Henry V, Act IV, Scene 3

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title
  • POL Polish (Polski) (Józef Ignacy Kraszewski) , no title

Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller

2. To whom can i speak today?

Language: English 
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, Egyptian, c3000 BCE

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3. Fife tune

Language: English 
One morning in May
 . . . . . . . . . .

— The rest of this text is not
currently in the database but will be
added as soon as we obtain it. —

Text Authorship:

  • by John Streeter Manifold (1915 - 1985), copyright ©

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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

4. Here dead we lie  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Here dead we lie because we did not choose
  To live and shame the land from which we sprung.
Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose,
  But young men think it is, and we were young.

Text Authorship:

  • by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), "Here dead we lie", appears in More Poems, no. 36, first published 1936

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

5. A ballad of good Lord Nelson

Language: English 
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —

Text Authorship:

  • by Lawrence Durrell (1912 - 1990), copyright ©

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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

6. Going to the warres  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind,
That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind
To war and arms I fly.

True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such
As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee, dear, so much,
Lov'd I not honour more.

Text Authorship:

  • by Richard Lovelace (1618 - 1658)

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Adolf von Marées) , "Abschied des Cavaliers"

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

7. A sight in camp  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
A sight in camp in the daybreak grey and dim,
As from my tent I emerge so early, sleepless,
As slow I walk in the cool fresh air
the path near by the hospital tent,
Three forms I see on stretchers lying,
brought out there untended lying,
Over each the blanket spread,
ample brownish woollen blanket,
Grey and heavy blanket, folding, covering all.
Curious I halt and silent stand,
Then with light fingers I
from the face of the nearest,
the first, just lift the blanket;
Who are you, elderly man so gaunt and grim,
with well-grey'd hair, and flesh all sunken about the eyes?
Who are you my dear comrade?
Then to the second I step -
and who are you my child and darling?
Who are you sweet boy with cheeks yet blooming?
Then to the third - a face nor child nor old,
very calm, as of beautiful yellow-white ivory;
Young man I think I know you -
I think this face is the face of Christ Himself,
Dead and divine and brother of all,
and here again He lies.

Text Authorship:

  • by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "A sight in camp in the daybreak grey and dim"

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

8. The end of the world  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Quite unexpectedly as Vasserot
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Archibald MacLeish (1892 - 1982), "The end of the world", appears in Streets in the Moon, first published 1926, copyright ©

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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

9. Grave hour  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Who now weeps anywhere in the world
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Margaret Dows Herter Norton (1894 - 1985), "Grave hour", appears in Translations from the Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, pp. 82-83 (The Book of Pictures 1.2), first published 1962, copyright ©

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Ernste Stunde", appears in Das Buch der Bilder, first published 1906
    • Go to the text page.

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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

10. The song of Moses

Language: English 
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —

Text Authorship:

  • by Bible or other Sacred Texts , from Exodus

Go to the general single-text view

Total word count: 638
Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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