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Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky

Song Cycle by Augusta Read Thomas (b. 1964)

1.
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
    The flying cloud, the frosty light; 
    The year is dying in the night; 
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
    Ring, happy bells, across the snow: 
    The year is going, let him go; 
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

 ... 

 ... 
    Ring in the nobler modes of life, 
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

 ... 

 ... 
    Ring in the love of truth and right, 
Ring in the common love of good.

 ... 
    Ring out the thousand wars of old, 
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
    The larger heart, the kindlier hand; 
    Ring out the darkness of the land, 
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Text Authorship:

  • by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), no title, appears in In Memoriam A. H. H. obiit MDCCCXXXIII, no. 106

See other settings of this text.

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

  • SWE Swedish (Svenska) (Edvard Fredin) , "Nyårsklockan", appears in Efterlemnade dikter, first published 1890

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2.
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Fair ship, that from the Italian shore
  Sailest the placid ocean-plains
  With my lost Arthur's loved remains,
Spread thy full wings, and waft him o'er.

So draw him home to those that mourn
  In vain; a favourable speed
  Ruffle thy mirror'd mast, and lead
Thro' prosperous floods his holy urn.

All night no ruder air perplex
  Thy sliding keel, till Phosphor, bright
  As our pure love, thro' early light
Shall glimmer on the dewy decks.

Sphere all your lights around, above;
  Sleep, gentle heavens, before the prow;
  Sleep, gentle winds, as he sleeps now,
My Friend, the brother of my love;

My Arthur, whom I shall not see
  Till all my widow'd race be run;
  Dear as the mother to the son,
More than my brothers are to me.

Text Authorship:

  • by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), no title, written 1849, appears in In Memoriam A. H. H. obiit MDCCCXXXIII, no. 9, first published 1850

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3.
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Strong Son of God, immortal Love,
    Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
    By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove;

 ... 

Forgive these wild and wandering cries,
    Confusions of a wasted youth;
    Forgive them where they fail in truth,
And in thy wisdom make me wise.

Text Authorship:

  • by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), no title, written 1849, appears in In Memoriam A. H. H. obiit MDCCCXXXIII, first published 1850

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4.
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
 ... 

That God, which ever lives and loves,
One God, one law, one element,
And one far-off divine event,
To which the whole creation moves.

Text Authorship:

  • by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), no title, written 1849, appears in In Memoriam A. H. H. obiit MDCCCXXXIII, no. 132, first published 1850

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

5.
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
A mighty matter I rehearse,
A mighty matter undescried;
Come listen all who can.
I am the spirit of a man,
I weave the universe,
And indivisible divide,
Creating all I hear and see.
All souls are centers: I am one,
I am the earth, the stars, the sun,
I am the clouds, the sea.

Text Authorship:

  • by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), written 1829, from "The Idealist"

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

6.
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
This nature full of hints and mysteries,
Untrackt conclusions, broken lights and shapes,
This world-reflecting mind, this complex life
Of checks and impulses and counter checks,
Glimpses and aspirations, warnings, failings.

Text Authorship:

  • by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), written 1833

Go to the general single-text view

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

7. Crossing the Bar
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Sunset and evening star,
    And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
    When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
    Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
    Turns again home!

Twilight and evening bell,
    And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
    When I embark;

For though from out our bourn of Time and Place
    The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
    When I have crost the bar.

Text Authorship:

  • by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), "Crossing the Bar", appears in Demeter and Other Poems, first published 1889

See other settings of this text.

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

  • CHI Chinese (中文) (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 519
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