Two Songs on Poems of James Joyce

Song Cycle by David Del Tredici (1937 - 2023)

1. Bahnhofstrasse [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

The eyes that mock me sign the way
Whereto I pass at eve of day,

Grey way whose violet signals are
The trysting and the twining star.

Ah star of evil! star of pain!
Highhearted youth comes not again

Nor old heart's wisdom yet to know
The signs that mock me as I go.

Text Authorship:

by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), "Bahnhofstrasse", written 1918, appears in Pomes Penyeach, no. 12

See other settings of this text.

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Bahnhofstrasse", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

First published in Anglo-French Review, August 1919

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. Alone
(Sung text)

Language: English

The moon's greygolden meshes make
All night a veil,
The shorelamps in the sleeping lake
Laburnum tendrils trail. 

The sly reeds whisper to the night
A name -- her name --
And all my soul is a delight,
A swoon of shame.

Text Authorship:

by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), "Alone", written 1916, appears in Pomes Penyeach, no. 10

See other settings of this text.

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

First published in Poetry, 1917
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Total word count: 94