by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889)
To Call Thee Love
Language: English
Let me be to Thee as the circling bird, Or bat with tender and air-crisping wings That shapes in half-light his departing rings, From both of whom a changeless note is heard. I have found my music in a common word, Trying each pleasurable throat that sings And every praisèd sequence of sweet strings, And know infallibly which I preferred. The authentic cadence was discovered late Which ends those only strains that I approve, And other science all gone out of date And minor sweetness scarce made mention of: I have found the dominant of my range and state - Love, O my God, to call Thee Love and Love.
Text Authorship:
- by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889), appears in Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, first published 1918 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "To Call Thee Love", 1999 [ soprano and piano ], from Four Songs of Gerard Manley Hopkins, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-05-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 109