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Recuerdo

Song Cycle by John Musto (b. 1954)

1. Echo
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years. 

Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;
Where thirsting longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more. 

Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again though cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago!

Text Authorship:

  • by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "Echo", written 1854

See other settings of this text.

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

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Echo", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Note: the text inspired the orchestral work "Symphonic Rhapsody" by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1904
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. Recuerdo
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
We were very tired, we were very merry —
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable —
But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,
We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon;
And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn came soon.
We were very tired, we were very merry —
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear,
From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere;
And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold,
And the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold.
We were very tired, we were very merry,
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
We hailed, "Good morrow, mother!" to a shawl-covered head,
And bought a morning paper, which neither of us read;
And she wept, "God bless you!" for the apples and pears,
And we gave her all our money but our subway fares.

Text Authorship:

  • by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), "Recuerdo", appears in A Few Figs from Thistles, first published 1920

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this page: John Musto

3. Last Song
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Goodbye, goodbye! 
There was so much to love, I could not love it all;
I could not love it enough. 
Some things I overlooked, and some I could not find. 
Let the crystal clasp them
When you drink your wine, in autumn.

Text Authorship:

  • by Louise Bogan (1897 - 1970), appears in After the Persian, first published 1937

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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.

Researcher for this page: John Musto
Total word count: 350
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–Emily Ezust, Founder

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