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by William Ernest Henley (1849 - 1903)

The North Wind
Language: English 
Fresh from his fastnesses
Wholesome and spacious,
The North Wind, the wild huntsman,
Halloas on his white hounds
Over the grey, roaring
Reaches and ridges,
The forest of ocean,
The chace of the world.

Hark to the peal
Of the pack in full cry,
As he thongs them before him,
Swarming voluminous,
Weltering, wide-wallowing,
Till in a ruining
Chaos of energy,
Hurled on their quarry,
They crash into foam!

Old Indefatigable
Time's right-hand man, the sea
Laughs as in joy
From his millions of wrinkles:
Laughs that his destiny,
Great with the greatness
Of triumphing order,
Shows as a dwarf
By the strength of his heart
And the might of his hands.

Master of masters,
And maker of heroes
Thunder the brave,
Irresistible message: -
"Life is worth living
Through every grain of it,
From the foundations
To the last edge
Of the cornerstone, death."

Text Authorship:

  • by William Ernest Henley (1849 - 1903) [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 Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "The North Wind", first performed 1899 [ bass and orchestra ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 36
Word count: 144

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