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by John Masefield (1878 - 1967)

Lauugh and be merry
 (Sung text for setting by I. Venables)
 Matches original text
Language: English 
Laugh and be merry, remember, better the world with a song,
Better the world with a blow in the teeth of a wrong.
Laugh, for the time is brief, a thread the length of a span.
Laugh and be proud to belong to the old proud pageant of man.

Laugh and be merry: remember, in olden time.
God made Heaven and Earth for joy He took in a rhyme,
Made them, and filled them full with the strong red wine of His mirth
The splendid joy of the stars: the joy of the earth.

So we must laugh and drink from the deep blue cup of the sky,
Join the jubilant song of the great stars sweeping by,
Laugh, and battle, and work, and drink of the wine outpoured
In the dear green earth, the sign of the joy of the Lord.

Laugh and be merry together, like brothers akin,
Guesting awhile in the rooms of a beautiful inn,
Glad till the dancing stops, and the lilt of the music ends.
Laugh till the game is played; and be you merry, my friends.

Composition:

    Set to music by Ian Venables (b. 1955), "Lauugh and be merry", op. 43 no. 4 (2012), published 2012 [ baritone, string quartet, piano ], from Songs of the Severn, no. 4

Text Authorship:

  • by John Masefield (1878 - 1967), "Laugh and be merry", appears in Ballads, first published 1903

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-12-30
Line count: 16
Word count: 183

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