by James Joyce (1882 - 1941)

Language: English 
Our translations:  FRE GER
He travels after a winter sun,
Urging the cattle along a cold red road,
Calling to them, a voice they know,
He drives his beasts above Cabra.

The voice tells them home is warm.
They moo and make brute music with their hoofs.
He drives them with a flowering branch before him,
Smoke pluming their foreheads.

Boor, bond of the herd,
Tonight stretch full by the fire!
I bleed by the black stream
For my torn bough!

Composition:

    Set to music by Vivian Fine (1913 - 2000), "Tilly", 1932, published 1933, first performed 1932 [ mezzo-soprano, 2 violins, and violoncello ], from Four Songs, no. 4

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Bonus", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Zugabe", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller

This text was added to the website: 2005-01-13
Line count: 12
Word count: 77