Did any bird come flying After Adam and Eve, When the door was shut against them And they sat down to grieve? I think not Eve's peacock Splendid to see, And I think not Adam's eagle; But a dove may be. Did any beast come pushing Through the thorny hedge Into the thorny, thistly world Out from Eden's edge? I think not a lion, Though his strength is such; But an innocent loving lamb May have done as much. If the dove preached from her bough And the lamb from his sod, The lamb and the dove Were preachers sent from God.
Three Lyrics by Christina Rossetti
Song Cycle by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960)
1. The Lamb and the Dove  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Text Authorship:
- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "Bird or Beast?", appears in The Prince's Progress and other Poems, first published 1866
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. A birthday  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
My heart is like a singing bird Whose nest is in a watered shoot; My heart is like an apple tree Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit; My heart is like a rainbow shell That paddles in a [purple]1 sea; My heart is gladder than all these Because my love is come to me. Raise me a dais of [silk and down]2; Hang it with vair and purple dyes; Carve it in doves and pomegranates, And peacocks with a hundred eyes; Work it in gold and silver grapes, In leaves and [silver]3 fleur-de-lys; Because the birthday of my life Is come, my love, is come to me.
Text Authorship:
- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "A birthday"
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Aldridge, Hall: "halcyon"
2 Parry: "purple and gold"
3 Aldridge: "tiny"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. Gone were but the winter  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Gone were but the Winter, Come were but the Spring, I would go to a covert Where the birds sing; Where in the whitethorn Singeth a thrush, And a robin sings In the holly-bush. Full of fresh scents Are the budding boughs Arching high over A cool green house: Full of sweet scents, And whispering air Which sayeth softly: "We spread no snare; "Here dwell in safety, Here dwell alone, With a clear stream And a mossy stone. "Here the sun shineth Most shadily; Here is heard an echo Of the far sea, Though far off it be."
Text Authorship:
- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "Spring fancies"
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First published in Macmillan's Magazine, 1865, rev. 1866Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 309