Sweep thy faint strings, Musician,
With thy long, lean hand;
Downward the starry tapers burn,
Sinks soft the waning sand;
The old hound whimpers couched in sleep,
The embers smoulder low;
Across the wall the shadows
Come, and go.
Sweep softly thy strings, Musician,
The minutes mount to hours;
Frost on the windless casement weaves
A labyrinth of flowers;
Ghosts linger in the darkening air,
Hearken at the [opening]1 door;
Music hath [called]2 them, dreaming,
Home once more.
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View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Peacock Pie. A Book of Rhymes by Walter de la Mare, London: Constable & Co. Ltd., [1920], p. 176.
1 Bennett, Gibbs: "open"
2 Gibbs: "brought"
Text Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "The song of shadows", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 8. Songs, no. 7, first published 1913 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "The song of shadows", 1985 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Three Poems of Walter de la Mare, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Rodney Bennett (1936 - 2012), "The Song of Shadows", 1986 [ voice or unison chorus and piano ], from Dream-Songs, no. 2, confirmed with a concert programme booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Joan Bennett , "A song of shadows", published 1934 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ina Boyle (1889 - 1967), "A song of shadows", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Irwin Fischer (b. 1903), "Song of shadows" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "A song of shadows", op. 15 (Three Songs) no. 3, published 1922, copyright © 1922, first performed 1918 [ voice and piano ], Boosey & Hawkes [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Geoffrey Gwyther , "A song of shadows", published 1920 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Elaine Hugh-Jones (b. 1927), "Ghosts", 1966-71 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Eight Songs of Walter de la Mare, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by J. Frederick Keel (1871 - 1954), "The song of shadows", published 1935 [ vocal duet with piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Samuel Liddle (1864? - 1951), "A song of shadows", published 1923 [ voice and piano ], from Three Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Pedley , "The song of shadows", published 1966 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Gillies Whittaker (1876 - 1944), "The song of shadows", published <<1946 [ SA chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Brocklesby Wordsworth (1908 - 1988), "The song of shadows", 1938 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Percy Marshall Young (1912 - 2004), "The song of the shadows", published 1951 [ SSA chorus and piano ], from Three songs from "Peacock Pie" [sung text not yet checked]
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2007-05-11
Line count: 16
Word count: 80