Song Cycle by John Ireland (1879-1962)

1. The Advent

Authorship

by Alice Christina Meynell, née Thompson (1847-1922) , published under her maiden name of A. C. Thompson, "Meditation", from Preludes, revised 1913, published 1875

    Rorate Coeli desuper, et nubes pluant Justum.
    Aperiatur Terra, et germinet Salvatorem.

No sudden thing of glory and fear
Was the Lord's coming; but the dear
Slow Nature's days followed each other
To form the Saviour from his Mother
one of the children of the year.

The earth, the rain, received the trust,
The sun and dews, to frame the Just.
He drew his daily life from these.
According to his own decrees
Who makes man from the fertile dust.

Sweet summer and the winter wild,
These brought hirn forth, the Undefiled.
The happy Springs renewed again
His daily bread, the growing grain,
The food and raiment of the Child.

2. Hymn for a child

Authorship

by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) , "Hymn for a child", from The Espalier, published 1925, copyright ©

Flocking to the Temple
 [ ... ]

3. My Fair

Authorship

by Alice Christina Meynell, née Thompson (1847-1922) , under her maiden-name of A. C. Thompson, "Song", from Preludes, revised 1913, published 1875

My Fair, no beauty of thine will last
	Save in my love's eternity.
	Thy smiles, that light thee fitfully,
Are lost for ever - their moment past -
	Except the few thou givest to me.

Thy sweet words vanish day by day,
	As all breath of mortality.
	Thy laughter, done, must cease to be,
And all the dear tones pass away,
	Except the few that sing to me.

Hide then within my heart, oh, hide
	All thou are loth should go from thee.
	Be kinder to thyself and me.
My cupful from this river's tide
	Shall never reach the long sad sea.

4. The Salley Gardens

Authorship

by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) , "An old song re-sung", from The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, published 1889

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Down by the Salley Gardens
My love and I did meet;
She passed the Salley Gardens
With little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy,
As the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish,
With her would not agree.

In a field by the river
My love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder
She laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy,
As the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish,
And now am full of tears.

5. The soldier's return

Authorship

by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) , "The soldier's return", from The Espalier, published 1925, copyright ©

Jump through the hedge, lass
 [ ... ]

6. The scapegoat

Authorship

by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) , "The scapegoat", from The Espalier, published 1925, copyright ©

See the scapegoat, happy beast
 [ ... ]

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