Song Cycle by Albert Tepper (1921-)

?. Infant Joy

Authorship

by William Blake (1757-1827) , "Infant Joy", from Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 17, published 1789

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

RUS Russian [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov)

"I have no name:
I am but two days old."
What shall I call thee?
"I happy am,
Joy is my name."
Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty Joy!
Sweet Joy, but two days old.
Sweet Joy I call thee:
Thou dost smile,
I sing the while,
Sweet joy befall thee!

?. Holy Thursday II

Authorship

by William Blake (1757-1827) , "Holy Thursday", from Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 13, published 1789

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['Twas]1 on a holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,
The children walking two and two, in red and blue and green:
Gray-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow,
Till into the high dome of St Paul's they like Thames waters flow.

O what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town!
Seated in companies they sit, with radiance all their own.
The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,
Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.

Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,
Or like harmonious thunderlings the seats of heaven among:
Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor.
Then cherish, cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.

?. The Tiger

Authorship

by William Blake (1757-1827) , "The tyger", from Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 12, published 1794

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

GER German (Walter A. Aue)
RUS Russian [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov)
FRE French (Guy Laffaille)

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,  
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?  

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?  
On what wings dare he aspire?  
What the hand, dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?  

What the hammer? what the chain,  
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!  

When the stars threw down their spears  
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:  
What immortal hand or eye,  
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

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