The sweepers (Kipling, set by E. Elgar) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Dawn off the Foreland -- the young flood making
    Jumbled and short and steep -- 
Black in the hollows and bright where it's breaking -- 
    Awkward water to sweep.
    "Mines reported in the fairway,
    "Warn all traffic and detain.
"'Sent up Unity, Claribel, Assyrian, Stormcock, and Golden Gain."

Noon off the Foreland -- the first ebb making
    Lumpy and strong in the bight.
Boom after boom, and the golf-hut shaking
    And the jackdaws wild with fright!
    "Mines located in the fairway,
    "Boats now working up the chain,
"Sweepers -- Unity, Claribel, Assyrian, Stormcock, and Golden Gain."

Dusk off the Foreland -- the last light going
    And the traffic crowding through,
And five damned trawlers with their syreens blowing
    Heading the whole review!
    "Sweep completed in the fairway.
    "No more mines remain.
"'Sent back Unity, Claribel, Assyrian, Stormcock, and Golden Gain."

First published in Daily Telegraph, November 1915, revised 1919

Authorship

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Sea Warfare

The Fringes of the Fleet

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

Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

The Fringes of the Fleet

Date added to the website: 2009-02-05.

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