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Sails, Robins, and Butterflies

Song Cycle by John Brodbin Kennedy

?. Whether my bark went down at sea  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Whether my bark went down at sea,
Whether she met with gales,
Whether to isles enchanted
She bent her docile sails;

By what mystic mooring
She is held to-day, -
This is the errand of the eye
Out upon the bay.

Text Authorship:

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

?. If I can stop one heart from breaking  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

?. Two butterflies went out at noon  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Two butterflies went out at noon
And waltzed [above a stream]1,
Then stepped straight through the firmament
And rested on a beam;

And then together bore away
Upon a shining sea, -
Though never yet, in any port,
Their coming mentioned be.

If spoken by the distant bird,
If met in ether sea
By frigate or by merchantman,
[Report was not]2 to me.

Text Authorship:

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , no title, copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Hoekman: "upon a Farm"
2 Hoekman: "No notice was"

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
Total word count: 143