Ay (Tennyson, set by H. Hales, S. Thomson) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Ay! Be merry, all birds, to-day,
Be merry on earth as you never were merry before,
Be merry in heaven, O larks, and far away,
And merry for ever and ever, and one day more.
Why? For it's easy to find a rhyme.

Look, look, how he flits.
The fire-crown'd king of the wrens, from out of the pine !
Look how they tumble the blossom, the mad little tits !
' Cuck-oo ! Cuck-oo ! ' was ever a May so fine ? 
Why? For it's easy to find a rhyme.

O merry the linnet and dove,
And swallow and sparrow and throstle, and have your desire !
O merry my heart, you have gotten the wings of love,
And flit like the king of the wrens with a crown of fire.
Why ? For it's ay ay, ay ay.

Authorship

Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

The Windows, or The Loves of the Wrens

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

Hubert Hales

Sidney Thomson

The Window or the Song of the Wrens

Date added to the website: 2009-03-22.

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