Speak to us, Music, for the discord jars; The world's unwisdom brings or threatens Death. Speak, and redeem this misery of breath With that which keeps the stars Each to her point in the eternal wheel That all clear skies reveal. Speak to us; lift the nightmare from us; sing. The screams of chaos make the daylight mad. Where are the dew-drenched mornings that we had When the lithe lark took wing? Where the still summers, when more golden time Spoke to us, from the lime? Though these be gone, yet, still, Thy various voice May help assuage the pangs of our distress, May hush the yelling where the fiends rejoice, Quiet the sleepless, making sorrow less. Speak, therefore, Music; speak. Calm our despair ; bring courage to the weak. Ah, lovely Friend, bring wisdom to the strong, Before a senseless strength has all destroyed. Be sunlight on the night of brooding wrong. Be form upon the chaos of the void. Be Music ; be Thyself; a prompting given Of Peace, of Beauty waiting, and sin shriven.
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Confirmed with John Masefield, Bluebells, and other verse, New York,: Macmillan, 1961, page 121, titled "A Cry to Music". First published under the title "Music 1939-40".
Authorship:
- by John Masefield (1878 - 1967), title 1: "Music 1939-40", title 2: "A Cry to Music", appears in Poems, first published 1951 [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 David Leo Diamond (1915 - 2005), "Invocation to Music", 1969 [ tenor, bass-baritone, SATB chorus, and orchestra ], from symphony To Music [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2023-04-19
Line count: 24
Word count: 177