by Alfred Perceval Graves (1846 - 1931)
The little red lark
Language: English
Oh swan of slenderness, Dove of tenderness, Jewel of joys, arise! The little red lark, Like a [rosy]1 spark Of song to his sunburst flies. But till [thou art]2 risen Earth is a prison Full of my lonesome sighs; Then awake and discover To thy fond lover The morn of thy matchless eyes. The dawn is dark to me. Hark! o hark to me, Pulse of my heart, I pray! And out of thy hiding With blushes gliding Dazzle me with thy day. Ah, then, once more to thee Flying I'll pour to thee Passion so sweet and gay. The lark shall listen, And dewdrops glisten, Laughing on [every]3 spray.
View original text (without footnotes)
1 Stanford: "soaring"
2 Stanford: "thou'rt"
3 Stanford: "ev'ry"
Researcher for this text: Ted Perry
1 Stanford: "soaring"
2 Stanford: "thou'rt"
3 Stanford: "ev'ry"
Authorship
- by Alfred Perceval Graves (1846 - 1931), "The little red lark", appears in Irish Songs and Ballads, in Songs and Ballads, first published 1880 [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 Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "The little red lark", published [1882?] [voice and piano], from the collection Songs of Old Ireland. A Collection of Fifty Irish Melodies Unknown in England, no. 1, arrangement ; London, Boosey & Co. ; dedicated to Johannes Brahms, August 1882 [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 110