Three Choral Songs

Song Cycle by Ray Green (b. 1908)

?. Butterflies  [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.

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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

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1 Hoekman: "upon a Farm"
2 Hoekman: "No notice was"

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

?. Bobolink  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
The Bobolink is gone --
The Rowdy of the Meadow --
And no one swaggers now but me --
The Presbyterian Birds
Can now resume the Meeting
He boldly interrupted that overflowing Day
When supplicating mercy
In a portentous way
He swung upon the Decalogue
And shouted let us pray --

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Le goglu", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

?. Sparrow  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
A sparrow took a slice of twig
And thought it very nice
I think, because his empty plate
Was handed Nature twice -

Invigorated, waded
In all the deepest sky
Until his little figure
Was forfeited away -

Text Authorship:

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 148