I cannot give the reasons, I only sing the tunes: the sadness of the seasons the madness of the moons. I cannot be didactic or lucid, but I can be quite obscure and practic- ally marzipan In gorgery and gushness and all that's squishified. My voice has all the lushness of what I can't abide And yet it has a beauty most proud and terrible denied to those whose duty is to be cerebral. Among the antlered mountains I make my viscous way and watch the sepia mountains throw up their lime-green spray.
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Text Authorship:
- by Mervyn Peake (1911 - 1968), "I Cannot Give the Reasons", appears in A Book of Nonsense, first published 1972 [author's text not yet checked 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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "I Cannot Give You Reasons", 2008 [ voice and piano ], from A Book of Nonsense, no. 12 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-03-05
Line count: 20
Word count: 93