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by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)

Sweet cyder
 (Sung text for setting by D. Steele)
 See original
Language: English 
Sweet cyder is a great thing,
  A great thing to me,
Spinning down to Weymouth town
  By Ridgway thirstily,
And maid and mistress summoning
  Who tend the hostelry:
O cyder is a great thing,
  A great thing to me!

The dance it is a great thing,
  A great thing to me,
With candles lit and partners fit
  For night-long revelry.
And going home when day-dawning
  Peeps pale upon the lea:
O dancing is a great thing,
  A great thing to me!

Love is, yea, a great thing,
  A great thing to me,
When, having drawn across the lawn
  In darkness silently,
A figure flits like one a-wing
  Out from the nearest tree:
O love is, yes, a great thing,
  A great thing to me!

Will these be always great things
  Great things to me? . . .
Let it befall that One will call,
  "Soul, I have need of thee":
What then? Joy-jaunts, impassioned flings,
  Love, and its ecstasy
Will always have been great things,
  A great thing to me!

Composition:

    Set to music by Douglas Steele (1910 - 1999), "Sweet cyder" [ voice and piano ], Manchester, Forsyth Publications

Text Authorship:

  • by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "Great things", appears in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses, first published 1917

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 172

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