Here are the skies, the planets seven And all the starry train; Content you with the mimic heaven, And on the earth remain. Ask me no more, for fear I should reply; Others have held their tongues, and so can I; Hundreds have died, and told no tale before: Ask me no more, for fear I should reply -- How one was true and one was clean of stain And one was braver than the heavens are high, And one was fond of me; and all are slain. Ask me no more, for fear I should reply.
Five Songs
Song Cycle by Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912 - 1990)
1. Mimic heaven  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in A. E. H., first published 1937
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Note: this poem was separated into two untitled poems in Additional Poems: Here are the skies, the planets seven and Ask me no more, for fear I should reply.Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. He would not stay  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
He would not stay for me; and who can wonder? He would not stay for me to stand and gaze. I shook his hand and tore my heart in sunder And went with half my life about my ways.
Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), appears in A. E. H., first published 1937
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Researcher for this page: Ted Perry3. Stars  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Stars, I have seen them fall, But when they drop and die No star is lost at all From all the star-sown sky. The toil of all that be Helps not the primal fault; It rains into the sea, And still the sea is salt.
Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in More Poems, no. 7, first published 1936
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]4. Unlucky love  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
I promise nothing: friends will part; All things may end, for all began; And truth and singleness of heart Are mortal even as is man. But this unlucky love should last When answered passions thin to air; Eternal fate so deep has cast Its sure foundation of despair.
Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in More Poems, no. 12, first published 1936
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]5. Homespun collars  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
From the wash the laundress sends My collars home with ravelled ends; I must fit, now these are frayed, My neck with new ones London-made. Homespun collars, homespun hearts, Wear to rags in foreign parts. Mine at least's as good as done, And I must get a London one.
Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in More Poems, no. 29, first published 1936
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]Total word count: 277