by William Allingham (1824 - 1889)
Good‑bye, good‑bye to Summer!
Language: English
Good-bye, good-bye to Summer!
For Summer's nearly done;
The garden smiling faintly,
Cool breezes in the sun;
Our Thrushes now are silent,
Our Swallows flown away, --
But Robin's here, in coat of brown,
With ruddy breast-knot gay.
Robin, Robin Redbreast,
O Robin dear!
Robin singing sweetly
In the falling of the year.
Bright yellow, red, and orange,
The leaves come down in hosts;
The trees are Indian Princes,
But soon they'll turn to Ghosts;
The scanty pears and apples
Hang russet on the bough,
It's Autumn, Autumn, Autumn late,
'Twill soon be Winter now.
Robin, Robin Redbreast,
O Robin dear!
And welaway! my Robin,
For pinching times are near.
The fireside for the Cricket,
The wheatstack for the Mouse,
When trembling night-winds whistle
And moan all round the house;
The frosty ways like iron,
The branches plumed with snow, --
Alas! in Winter, dead and dark,
Where can poor Robin go?
Robin, Robin Redbreast,
O Robin dear!
And a crumb of bread for Robin,
His little heart to cheer.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship
- by William Allingham (1824 - 1889), "Robin Redbreast", appears in Poems, first published 1861 [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 (William) Havergal Brian (1876 - 1972), "Goodbye to Summer", published 1914. [SA chorus a cappella] [text not verified]
- by Henry Clough-Leighter (1874 - 1956), "Robin Redbreast", published 1933 [chorus a cappella], from Rhythm Songs [text not verified]
- by Friedrich Gernsheim (1839 - 1916), "Robin Redbreast", published 1915 [voices a cappella], from The Progressive Music Series [text not verified]
- by J. M. Hubbard , "Robin Redbreast", published 1882 [voice, piano], from Treasury of Song for the Home Circle [text not verified]
- by E. W. Johns , "Robin Redbreast", published 1918 [SSA chorus piano], from Junior Songs [text not verified]
- by Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer (1882 - 1957), "Good-bye to Summer", published 1914. [unison chorus and piano] [text not verified]
- by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "Robin Redbreast", published 1907. [2-part women's chorus a cappella] [text not verified]
- by Eric Harding Thiman (1900 - 1975), "Robin Redbreast", published 1935. [SA chorus and piano] [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text added to the website: 2005-12-19 00:00:00
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:02:16
Line count: 36
Word count: 168