by James Stephens (1882 - 1950)
Mad Patsy said, he said to me
Language: English
Mad Patsy said, he said to me, That every morning he could see An angel walking on the sky; Across the sunny skies of morn He threw great handfuls far and nigh Of poppy seed among the corn; And then, he said, the angels run To see the poppies in the sun. A poppy is a devil weed, I said to him - he disagreed; He said the devil had no hand In spreading flowers tall and fair Through corn and rye and meadow land, by garth and barrow everywhere: The devil has not any flower, But only money in his power. And then he stretched out in the sun And rolled upon his back for fun: He kicked his legs and roared for joy Because the sun was shining down: He said he was a little boy And would not work for any clown: He ran and laughed behind a bee, And danced for very ecstasy.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by James Stephens (1882 - 1950), "In the poppy field", appears in Reincarnations, first published 1918 [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 Joyce McGowan Clark , "In the poppy field", published 1924 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bryceson Treharne (1879 - 1948), "Mad Patsy", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joan Trimble (1915 - 2005), "In the poppy field", 1949 [ baritone and 2 pianos ], from The County Mayo, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-01-16
Line count: 24
Word count: 157