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Mystery

Song Cycle by Lori Laitman (b. 1955)

1. Nightfall
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
We will never walk again
As we used to walk at night,
Watching our shadows lengthen
Under the gold street-light
When the snow was new and white.
We will never walk again
Slowly, we two,
In spring when the park is sweet
With midnight and with dew,
And the passers-by are few.
I sit and think of it all,
And the blue June twilight dies,
Down in the clanging square
A street-piano cries
And stars come out in the skies.

Text Authorship:

  • by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "Nightfall", appears in Flame and Shadow, first published 1920

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. Spray
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I knew you thought of me all night,
I knew, though you were far away;
  I felt your love blow over me
  As if a dark wind-riven sea
Drenched me with quivering spray.

There are so many ways to love
And each way has its own delight --
  Then be content to come to me
  Only as spray the beating sea
Drives inland through the night.

Text Authorship:

  • by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "Spray", appears in Flame and Shadow, first published 1920

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. The kiss
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I hoped that he would love me,
And he has kissed my mouth,
But I am like a stricken bird
That cannot reach the south.

For though I know he loves me,
To-night my heart is sad;
His kiss was not so wonderful
As all the dreams I had. 

Text Authorship:

  • by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "The kiss", appears in Helen of Troy and Other Poems, first published 1911

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. The mystery
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Your eyes drink of me,
Love makes them shine,
Your eyes that lean
So close to mine.
We have long been lovers,
We know the range
Of each other's moods
And how they change;
But when we look
At each other so
Then we feel
How little we know;
The spirit eludes us,
Timid and free  -- 
Can I ever know you
Or you know me?

Text Authorship:

  • by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "The mystery", appears in Flame and Shadow, first published 1920

Go to the general single-text view

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

5. The rose
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Beneath my chamber window
Pierrot was singing, singing;
      I heard his lute the whole night thru
        Until the east was red.
Alas, alas, Pierrot,
I had no rose for flinging
      Save one that drank my tears for dew
        Before its leaves were dead.

I found it in the darkness,
I kissed it once and threw it,
      The petals scattered over him,
        His song was turned to joy;
And he will never know --
Alas, the one who knew it! --
      The rose was plucked when dusk was dim
        Beside a laughing boy.

Text Authorship:

  • by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "The rose", appears in Rivers to the Sea, first published 1915

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 349
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