by Alfred Perceval Graves (1846 - 1931)
The black phantom
Language: English
On for ever, on for ever, Unbeknown beneath the night, O mo chuma! O mu chuma! Stole the silent searching blight, Till it struck us with a shiver, Shaking wide its woeful curse, Like the white plumes of a hearse. Down we dug, but only showered Poison'd praties o'er the slope -- O mo chuma! O mu chuma! Hoping yet agin all hope, Till, at long lost overpower'd, In the gloomy gathering shades We should rest our useless spades. While around us ghostly shadows, Phantoms of our fathers' dead, O mo chuma! O mu chuma! Roamed and roamed with ceaseless tread, Weeping and wailing thro' the meadows, Fit to melt a heart of stone. Ochone! and ochone! Then we knew for solemn certain That the poison breathing cloud -- O mo chuma! O mu chuma! Surely yet would be our shroud, Still would draw its cruel curtain Closer still round child and wife, Till it strangled out their life. O mo chuma! O mu chuma!
Authorship:
- by Alfred Perceval Graves (1846 - 1931) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "The black phantom", op. 76 no. 12, published 1901 [voice and piano], from Songs of Erin, no. 12, London, Boosey [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Mike Pearson
This text was added to the website: 2016-09-13
Line count: 29
Word count: 163