by John Masefield (1878 - 1967)
The Golden City of St. Mary
Language: English
Out beyond the sunset, could I but find the way,
Is a sleepy blue laguna which widens to a bay,
And there's the Blessed City -- so the sailors say --
The Golden City of St. Mary.
It's built of fair marble -- white -- without a stain,
And in the cool twilight when the sea-winds wane
The bells chime faintly, like a soft, warm rain,
In the Golden City of St. Mary.
Among the green palm-trees where the fire-flies shine,
Are the white tavern tables where the gallants dine,
Singing slow Spanish songs like old mulled wine,
In the Golden City of St. Mary.
Oh I'll be shipping sunset-wards and westward-ho
Through the green toppling combers a-shattering into snow,
Till I come to quiet moorings and a watch below,
In the Golden City of St. Mary.
Text Authorship:
- by John Masefield (1878 - 1967), "The Golden City of St. Mary", appears in Salt Water Ballads, first published 1902 [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 Robert Coningsby Clarke (1879 - 1934), "The Golden City of St. Mary", published 1919 [ voice and piano ], from Songs of a Rover [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ian Alfred Copley (b. 1926), "The Golden City of St. Mary", published 1957 [ unison chorus or treble voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "The Golden City of St. Mary", op. 2 (1943) [ voice and piano ], from The Pageant of Life, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Thomas Wood (1892 - 1950), "The Golden City of St. Mary", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-12-30
Line count: 16
Word count: 133