Clouded with snow The cold winds blow, And shrill on leafless bough The robin with its burning breast Alone sings now. The rayless sun, Day's journey done, Sheds its last ebbing light On fields in leagues of beauty spread Unearthly white. Thick draws the dark, And spark by spark, The frost-fires kindle, and soon Over that sea of frozen foam Floats the white moon.
Eight Songs of Walter de la Mare
Song Cycle by Elaine Hugh-Jones (b. 1927)
1. Winter  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Winter", appears in The Listeners and Other Poems, first published 1912
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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. Ghosts  [sung text not yet checked]
Sweep thy faint strings, Musician, With thy long, lean hand; Downward the starry tapers burn, Sinks soft the waning sand; The old hound whimpers couched in sleep, The embers smoulder low; Across the wall the shadows Come, and go. Sweep softly thy strings, Musician, The minutes mount to hours; Frost on the windless casement weaves A labyrinth of flowers; Ghosts linger in the darkening air, Hearken at the [opening]1 door; Music hath [called]2 them, dreaming, Home once more.
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "The song of shadows", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 8. Songs, no. 7, first published 1913
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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Peacock Pie. A Book of Rhymes by Walter de la Mare, London: Constable & Co. Ltd., [1920], p. 176.
1 Bennett, Gibbs: "open"
2 Gibbs: "brought"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
3. Echo  [sung text not yet checked]
Seven sweet notes In the moonlight pale Warbled a leaf-hidden Nightingale: And Echo in hiding By an old green wall Under the willows Sighed back them all.
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Echo", appears in Bells and Grass: A Book of Rhymes, first published 1941
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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Researcher for this page: David Sims [Guest Editor]4. Solitude  [sung text not yet checked]
'Wish! and it's thine!' the changeling piped, Shrill from her thorn. And I with dew-soaked shoes could only Stare in return. High up above me sang the lark, Beneath me lay the sea, Gorse, bramble, rock, and winchat were My only company. Her tiny voice fell faint, and lo, Where she had been, Leaned but a few-days-budded rose Out of the green.
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Solitude"
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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]5. The hare  [sung text not yet checked]
In the black furrow of a field I saw an old witch-hare this night; And she cocked a lissome ear, And she eyed the moon so bright, And she nibbled o' the green; And I whispered "Whsst! witch-hare", Away like a ghostie o'er the field She fled, and left the moonlight there.
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), as Walter Ramal, appears in Songs of Childhood, first published 1902
See other settings of this text.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]6. Silver  [sung text not yet checked]
Slowly, silently, now the moon Walks the night in her silver shoon; This way, and that, she peers and sees Silver fruit upon silver trees; One by one the casements catch Her beams beneath the silvery thatch; Couched in his kennel, like a log, With paws of silver sleeps the dog; [From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep]1 A harvest mouse goes scampering by, With silver claws, and silver eye; And moveless fish in the water gleam, By silver reeds in a silver stream.
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Silver", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 7. Earth and Air, no. 4, first published 1913
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
View original text (without footnotes)1 omitted by Bachlund, Britten, Duke, Gibbs.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
7. The raven's tomb
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —
8. The ride‑by‑nights  [sung text not yet checked]
Up on their brooms the Witches stream, Crooked and black in the crescent's gleam; One foot high, and one foot low, Bearded, cloaked, and cowled, they go, 'Neath Charlie's Wain they twitter and tweet, And away they swarm 'neath the Dragon's feet, With a whoop and a flutter they swing and sway, And surge pell-mell down the Milky Way. Betwixt the legs of the glittering Chair They hover and squeak in the empty air. Then round they swoop past the glimmering Lion To where Sirius barks behind huge Orion; Up, then, and over to wheel amain, Under the silver, and home again.
Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "The ride-by-nights", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 6. Witches and Fairies, no. 2, first published 1913
See other settings of this text.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]