O sweet everlasting Voices, be still;
Go to the guards of the heavenly fold
And bid them wander obeying your will,
Flame under flame, till Time be no more;
Have you not heard that our hearts are old,
That you call in birds, in wind on the hill,
In shaken boughs, in tide on the shore?
O sweet everlasting Voices, be still.

About the headline (FAQ)

First published in New Review (January 1896), revised 1899

Authorship:

• by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "Everlasting voices" [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 Jean Chatillon (1937 - 2019), "The everlasting voices", op. 34 no. 4 (1995) [ chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Edmunds (1913 - 1986), "O Sweet Everlasting Voices" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Thomas C. Kelly (b. 1917), "Everlasting voices", 1959 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Richard Roderick-Jones (b. 1947), "The everlasting voices", 1966 [ soprano and piano ], from The wind among the reeds [sung text not yet checked]
• by Daniel Ruyneman (1886 - 1963), "The everlasting voices", 1949 [ voice and piano ], from Seven melodies, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ruth Schonthal (1924 - 2006), "The everlasting voices", 1949 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Nine Lyric Dramatic Songs, no. 3, Furore Edition [sung text not yet checked]
• by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "The everlasting voices", 1915, published 1976 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Dennis Wickens (b. 1926), "The everlasting voices" [ high voice and piano ], from The Everlasting Voices [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: David K. Smythe

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 62