by James Stephens (1882 - 1950)
The Red‑Bud, the Kentucky Tree
Language: English
The Red-Bud, the Kentucky Tree, Bloomed the spring to life for me In Freelands; and the Mocking Bird -- Nimble chorister of glee, Sweet as poet ever heard In a world of ecstasy -- Sang the summer, and the sun; Sang the summer in to me. The spring is gone! The summer gone! The Cardinal has gone away! The fire-flies, dancing on the lawn, -- Each a little moon at play -- Are gone, with summer, gone away! And, where green acres were aglow, Daisy munches in the snow! A snowy field! A stable piled With straw! A donkey's sleepy pow! A mother beaming on a child! A manger, and a munching cow! -- These we all remember now -- And airy voices, heard afar! And three Magicians, and a Star! Two thousand times of snow declare That on the Christmas of the year There is a singing in the air; And all who listen for it hear A fairy chime, a seraph strain, Telling He is born again, -- That all we love is born again.
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Authorship:
- by James Stephens (1882 - 1950), "Christmas in Freelands", appears in Collected Poems, first published 1926 [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 Dorothy Parke , "A Snowy Field", published 1951 [ solo voice and SATB chorus a cappella ], note: the sung text begins in stanza 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2023-12-13
Line count: 29
Word count: 170