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by Winifred Mary Letts (1882 - 1972)

Grandeur
Language: English 
Poor Mary Byrne is dead,
An' all the world may see
[Where]1 she lies upon her bed
Just as fine as quality.

She lies there still and white,
With candles either hand
That'll guard her [through]2 the night:
Sure she never was so grand.

She holds her rosary,
Her hands clasped on her breast.
Just as dacint as can be
In the habit she's been dressed.

In life her hands were red
With every sort of toil,
But they're white now she is dead,
An' they've sorra mark of soil.

The neighbours come and go,
They kneel to say a prayer,
I wish herself could know
Of the way she's lyin' there.

It was work from morn till night,
And hard she earned her bread:
But I'm thinking she's a right
To be aisy now she's dead.

When other girls were gay,
At wedding or at fair,
She'd be toiling all the day,
Not a minyit could she spare.

An' no one missed her face,
Or sought her in a crowd,
But to-day they throng the place
Just to see her in her shroud.

The creature in her life
Drew trouble with each breath;
She was just "poor Jim Byrne's wife" —
But she's lovely in her death.

I wish the dead could see
The splendour of a wake,
For it's proud herself would be
Of the keening that they make.

Och! little Mary Byrne,
You welcome every guest,
Is it now you take your turn
To be merry with the rest?

I'm thinking you'd be glad,
[Though]3 the angels make your bed,
Could you see the care we've had
To respect you — now you're dead.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   C. Stanford 

Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Stanford: "When"
2 Stanford: "thro'"
3 Stanford: "tho'"

Text Authorship:

  • by Winifred Mary Letts (1882 - 1972), "Grandeur" [author's text checked 1 time 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), "Grandeur", op. 140 no. 1 (1913), published 1914 [ voice and piano ], from A Sheaf of Songs from Leinster, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2020-09-28
Line count: 48
Word count: 280

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