Of the dark past A child is born; With joy and grief My heart is torn. Calm in his cradle The living lies. May love and mercy Unclose his eyes! Young life is breathed On the glass; The world that was not Comes to pass. A child is sleeping: An old man gone. O, father forsaken, Fogive your son!
Syzygy
Song Cycle by David Del Tredici (1937 - 2023)
1. Ecce puer  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
Authorship:
- by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), "Ecce puer"
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First published in New Republic, November 1932Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. Nightpiece  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
Gaunt in gloom The pale stars their torches Enshrouded wave. Ghostfires from heaven's far verges faint illume Arches on soaring arches, Night's sindark nave. Seraphim The lost hosts awaken To service till In moonless gloom each lapses, muted, dim Raised when she has and shaken Her thurible. And long and loud To night's nave upsoaring A starknell tolls As the bleak incense surges, cloud on cloud, Voidward from the adoring Waste of souls.
Authorship:
- by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), "Nightpiece", appears in Pomes Penyeach, no. 9
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Nocturne", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Nachtstück", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 132