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Verlaine Lieder (Four Verlaine Songs)

Song Cycle by Cecil Coles (1888 - 1918)

1. Fantastic in appearance 
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Fantastic in appearance see
The river gliding through the street.
It doth without a murmur roll
Behind a wall of full five feet
Its wave so dark yet ne'ertheless
Pure, through the suburb's peacefulness.

So very great the runnel is
The water which is yellowing 
Like death swells sinking without hope
Aught save the fog of mirroring 
Not even when the dawn lights 
All the houses yellow, black and small!

Text Authorship:

  • by Ashmore Kyle Paterson Wingate (1881 - 1926?30), appears in Poems by Verlaine, London and Newcastle, Walter Scott Publishing Company, first published 1904

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, subtitle: "Paddington", appears in Romances sans paroles, in Aquarelles, in 3. Streets, no. 2, first published 1874
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. A slumber vast and black
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
A slumber vast and black
Falls on my life.
O sleep all hope;
O sleep all jealous strife.
O nought more can I see,
All mem'ry's gone 
Of evil and of good
O hist'ry wan!

What am I but an arch 
A hand doth poise
Above a cavern's mouth.
No noise, no noise.

Text Authorship:

  • by Ashmore Kyle Paterson Wingate (1881 - 1926?30), appears in Poems by Verlaine, London and Newcastle, Walter Scott Publishing Company, first published 1904

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, written 1873, appears in Sagesse, in Sagesse III, no. 5, first published 1880
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. Pastoral 'The sky above the roof'
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
The sky is up above the roof
so blue, so calm.
A tree just up above the roof
doth rock its palm,

The bell in heaven which I watch
doth sweetly ring.
A bird within the tree I watch
doth sadly sing.

My God, my God, life simple here
and quiet one sees.
This murmur from the city there
comes all in peace.




Text Authorship:

  • by Ashmore Kyle Paterson Wingate (1881 - 1926?30), appears in Poems by Verlaine, London and Newcastle, Walter Scott Publishing Company, first published 1904

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, written 1880, appears in Sagesse, in Sagesse III, no. 6, Paris, Société générale de Librairie Catholique, first published 1881
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. Let's dance the gig
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Let's dance the jig!

O most I loved her pretty eyes
More clear than starlight of the skies.
I loved her eyes where malice lies.

Let's dance the jig!

She had some ways most well designed
To desolate a lover's mind
Which was of her so very kind.

Let's dance the jig!

But now I prove much better this 
Eke of her blossom mouth the kiss
Since when she's dead to me I wis.

Let's dance the jig!

I do remember vividly 
The hours and all our colloquy
And that's the best thing left to me.

Let's dance the jig!

Text Authorship:

  • by Ashmore Kyle Paterson Wingate (1881 - 1926?30), appears in Poems by Verlaine, London and Newcastle, Walter Scott Publishing Company, first published 1904

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), subtitle: "Soho", appears in Romances sans paroles, in Aquarelles, in 3. Streets, no. 1, first published 1874
    • Go to the text page.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 287
Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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