April (Carpenter, set by H. Gardiner) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


O April, month of Nymphs and Fauns and Cupids,
Month of the Sungod's kisses, Earth's sweet passion,
Of fanciful winds and showers;
Apollo, glorious over hill and dale
Ethereally striding; grasses springing
Rapt to his feet, buds bursting, flowers out-breathing
Their liberated hearts in love to him.
 
(The little black-cap garrulous on the willow
Perching so prim, the crested chaffinch warbling,
And primrose and celandine, anemone and daisy,
Starring the tender herb which lambs already nibble.)
 
Month of all-gathering warmth,
Of breathless moments, hotter and hotter growing --
Smiles turned to fire, kisses to fierce earnest --
Of sultry swoons, pauses, and strange suspense
(Clouds and daemonic thunder through the blue vault threateningly rolling);
Then the delirious up-break -- the great fountains of the deep, in Sex,
Loosened to pouring failing rushing waters;
Shafts of wild light; and Sky and Earth in one another's arms
Melted, and all of Heaven spent in streams of love
Towards the Loved one.

Authorship

Edward Carpenter (1844-1929)

Towards Democracy

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

Henry Balfour Gardiner (1877-1950)

Date added to the website: 2009-02-04.

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