Morning and Evening Poems

Song Cycle by William Bolcom (b. 1938)

1. To Morning  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
O holy virgin! clad in purest white,
Unlock heaven's golden gates, and issue forth;
Awake the dawn that sleeps in heaven; let light
[Rise]1 from the chambers of the east, and bring
The honey'd dew that cometh on waking day.
O radiant morning, salute the sun
Roused like a huntsman to the chase, and with
Thy buskin'd feet appear [upon]2 our hills.3

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

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1 Mitchell: "Arise"
2 Mitchell: "on"
3 Mitchell adds "O radiant morning appear on our hills!"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. I heard an angel singing  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
I heard an Angel singing 
When the day was springing,
"Mercy, Pity, Peace
Is the world's release."
Thus he sung all day
Over the new mown hay,
Till the sun went down
And haycocks looked brown.
I heard a Devil curse
Over the heath and the furze,
"Mercy could be no more,
If there was nobody poor,
And pity no more could be,
If all were as happy as we."
At his curse the sun went down,
And the heavens gave a frown.
Down pour'd the heavy rain
Over the new reap'd grain ...
And Miseries' increase
Is Mercy, Pity, Peace.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. I fear'd the fury of my wind  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
I fear'd the fury of my wind
Would blight all blossoms fair and true;
And my sun it shin'd and shin'd,
And my wind it never blew.

But a blossom fair or true
Was not found on any tree;
For all blossoms grew and grew
Fruitless, false, tho' fair to see.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. I thought love lived in the hot sunshine  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
[ ... ]

I thought Love livd in the hot sun Shine
But O he lives in the Moony light
I thought to find Love in the heat of day
But sweet Love is the Comforter of Night

Text Authorship:

  • by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "William Bond", from "William Bond".

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Confirmed with The Pickering Manuscript, c1801-1803.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 612