Breath of ney | The breath of Ney floats down the valley

by Edwin Evans (1844 - 1923?)

Breath of ney

Language: English

The breath of Ney floats down the valley
wafled on the thymeladen air of the foothills.
It hovers over the village.
Brushing lightly the cheek of my beloved
it mates with the scent of her hair
until I know not of what I am conscious:
or music or perfume.

It murmurs on its way to the brook beyond the house
The echo of its last note lingers 
to meet the ripple that veils our kisses
Oh, shepherd of the hills, play on
for the song of life eternally renewed is in the breath of Ney.

Authorship:

by Edwin Evans (1844 - 1923?) [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 (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Sir (1893 - 1962), "Breath of ney", op. 17b no. 1 (1916), published 1918, first performed 1918 [ voice and piano ], from Persian Idylls, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2023-02-17
Line count: 12
Word count: 95