I will go out and meet the evening hours And greet them one by one as friend greets friend, Where many a tall poplar summit towers On summit, shrines of quietness that send Their silence through the blue air like a wreath Of sacrificial flame unwavering In the deep evening stillness, when no breath Sets the faint tendrils floating on light wing Over the long dim fields mist-islanded. I will go out and meet them one by one, And learn the things old times have left unsaid, And read the secrets of an age long gone, And out of twilight and the darkening plain Build up all that old quiet world again.
Six Poems by Seumas O'Sullivan
Song Cycle by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950)
1. Evening  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Seumas O'Sullivan (1879 - 1958), "Evening", appears in The Earth-Lover and Other Poems, first published 1909
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. The poplars  [sung text checked 1 time]
As I went dreaming By the grey poplar trees, They bent down and whispered Words like these: "In a far country There is a lonely glen, Hushed with the footfall Of shadowy men. Shadowy, and silent, And grey amongst the trees That have long forgotten The sound of the breeze. And one tall poplar Grows in that land; The chain of God's silence, Held in his hand." This I heard As I went dreaming By the grey poplars In the purple evening.
Authorship:
- by Seumas O'Sullivan (1879 - 1958), "The poplars", appears in The Twilight People, first published 1905
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Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]3. A Cottager  [sung text checked 1 time]
The rafters blacken year by year, And the roof beams under that once were green. T'was himself that cut them and brought them here, But who has count of the years between? And Autumn comes, and its withering, And Spring again and the fields are green. Winter and Summer and Autumn and Spring, Yet who has count of the years between? The big old clock by the window screen Keeps count of the hours both day and night. I mind the time when its face was white, But who has count of the years between?
Authorship:
- by Seumas O'Sullivan (1879 - 1958), "A cottager", appears in The Earth-Lover and Other Poems, first published 1909
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Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]4. The dustman  [sung text checked 1 time]
Subtitle: Child's fancy
At night when everyone's asleep It must be very late! I creep Softly down the darkened stairs To the big room where we have prayers, And, standing at the window, I watch the Dustman going by. Perched up on his high seat he looks Like charioteers in those old books, And his long coat, when the lights are dim, Makes funny shadows all over him.
Authorship:
- by Seumas O'Sullivan (1879 - 1958), "The dustman", appears in The Rosses and Other Poems, first published 1918
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Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]5. Lullaby  [sung text checked 1 time]
Husheen, the herons are crying
Away in the rain and the sleet,
Flying and flying and flying,
With never a rest [for]1 their feet.
But warm in your [coverlid]2 nestle,
Wee Bird, till the dawn of the day,
Nor dream of the wild wings that wrestle
In the night and the rain and the grey.
Come, sweetheart, the bright ones would bring you
By the magical meadows and streams,
With the light of your dreaming they build you
A house on the hill of your dreams.
But you stir in your sleep and you murmur,
As though the wild rain and the grey
Wet hills, with the [wind]3 ever blowing
Had driven your dreams away.
[ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Seumas O'Sullivan (1879 - 1958), "Lullaby", appears in An Epilogue to the Praise of Angus and Other Poems, first published 1914
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Moeran: "to"
2 Moeran: "coverlet"
3 Moeran: "winds"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
6. The herdsman  [sung text checked 1 time]
O herdsman, driving your slow twilight flock By darkening meadow and hedge and grassy rath, The trees stand shuddering as you pass by, The suddenly falling silence is your path. Over my [heart the shadows too]1 are creeping, But on my heart for ever they will lie. O happy meadow and trees and raths and hedges, The twilight and all its flock will pass you by.
Authorship:
- by Seumas O'Sullivan (1879 - 1958), "The herdsman", appears in The Twilight People, first published 1905
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View original text (without footnotes)Titled "The shadows" in some publications
1 Moeran: "heart too, the shadows"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]