The twilight people (O'Sullivan, set by D. Glass, H. Howells, R. Vaughan Williams) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


It is a whisper among the hazel bushes ; 
It is a long, low, whispering voice that fills 
With a sad music the bending and swaying rushes ; 
It is a heart-beat deep in the quiet hills. 

Twilight people, why will you still be crying, 
Crying and calling to me out of the trees ? 
For under the quiet grass the wise are lying, 
And all the strong ones are gone over the seas. 

And I am old, and in my heart at your calling 
Only the old dead dreams a-fluttering go ; 
As the wind, the forest wind, in its falling 
Sets the withered leaves fluttering to and fro.

Authorship

Seumas O'Sullivan (1879-1958)

The Twilight People

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

Dudley Glass

Herbert Norman Howells (1892-1983)

Five songs for low voice

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

Two Poems by Seumas O'Sullivan

Date added to the website: 2009-02-03.

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