by James Stephens (1882 - 1950)
The watcher
Language: English
A rose for a young head, A ring for a bride, Joy for the homestead Clean and wide Who's that waiting In the rain outside? A heart for an old friend, A hand for the new: Love can to earth lend Heaven's hue Who's that standing In the silver dew? A smile for the parting, A tear as they go, God's sweethearting Ends just so Who's that watching Where the black winds blow ? He who is waiting In the rain outside, He who is standing Where the dew drops wide, He who is watching In the wind must ride (Tho' the pale hands cling) With the rose And the ring And the bride, Must ride With the red of the rose, And the gold cf the ring, And the lips and the hair of the bride.
Authorship:
- by James Stephens (1882 - 1950), "The watcher", appears in Insurrections, first published 1909 [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 Cecil Forsyth (1870 - 1941), "The watcher", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bryceson Treharne (1879 - 1948), "The watcher", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-26
Line count: 32
Word count: 137