Two Quiet Songs

by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970)

1. Weep You No More  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Weep you no more, sad fountains;
  What need [you]1 flow so fast?
Look how the snowy mountains
  Heaven's sun doth gently waste!
    But my sun's heavenly eyes
      View not your weeping,
      That now lies sleeping,
    [Softly now, softly]2 lies
        Sleeping.

Sleep is a reconciling,
  A rest that peace begets;
Doth not the sun rise smiling
  When fair at [e'en]3 he sets?
    Rest you, then, rest, sad eyes!
      Melt not in weeping,
      While she lies sleeping,
    [Softly now, softly]2 lies
        Sleeping.

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author ( 16th century )

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Hamann) , "Tränen", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

View original text (without footnotes)
1 van Dieren: "ye"
2 van Dieren, Holst, Moeran: "Softly, now softly"
3 Parry: "eve"; Moeran, Quilter, van Dieren: "even"; Holst: "ev'n"

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

2. 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:

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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"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 154