Tilly | He travels after a winter sun

by James Joyce (1882 - 1941)

Tilly

Language: English

Available translation(s): 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!

Authorship:

by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), "Tilly", written 1904, appears in Pomes Penyeach, no. 1, first published 1927 [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 Stanley Richard Bate (1913 - 1959), "Tilly", published 1951 [ low voice and piano ], from Five Songs [sung text not yet checked]
by Vivian Fine (1913 - 2000), "Tilly", 1932, published 1933, first performed 1932 [ mezzo-soprano, 2 violins, and violoncello ], from Four Songs, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "Tilly", R. 105 (c1931), published 1933 [ high voice and piano ], from The Joyce Book, no. 1, Sylvan Press [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Researcher for this text: Barbara Miller

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