Eight Christina Rossetti Poems

Song Cycle by Samuel Liddle (1864? - 1951)

?. 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.

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1 Aldridge, Hall: "halcyon"
2 Parry: "purple and gold"
3 Aldridge: "tiny"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

?. Boy Johnny  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
"If you'll busk you as a bride
  And make ready,
It's I will wed you with a ring,
  O fair lady."

"Shall I busk me as a bride,
  I so bonny,
For you to wed me with a ring,
  O boy Johnny?"

"When you've busked you as a bride
  And made ready,
Who else is there to marry you,
  O fair lady?"

"I will find my lover out,
  I so bonny,
And you shall bear my wedding-train,
  O boy Johnny."

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 188