Reveille (Housman, set by I. Gurney, G. Peel, G. Dyson, A. Leichtling) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Wake: the silver dusk returning
Up the beach of darkness brims,
And the ship of sunrise burning
Strands upon the eastern rims.

Wake: the vaulted shadow shatters,
Trampled to the floor it spanned,
And the tent of night in tatters
Straws the sky-pavilioned land.

Up, lad, up, 'tis late for lying:
Hear the drums of morning play;
Hark, the empty highways crying
"Who'll beyond the hills away?"

Towns and countries woo together,
Forelands beacon, belfries call;
Never lad that trod on leather
Lived to feast his heart with all.

Up, lad: thews that lie and cumber
Sunlit pallets never thrive;
Morns abed and daylight slumber
Were not meant for man alive.

Clay lies still, but blood's a rover;
Breath's a ware that will not keep.
Up, lad: when the journey's over
There'll be time enough to sleep.

Input by Ted Perry

Authorship

Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936)

A Shropshire Lad

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

George Dyson (1883-1964)

Three Songs of Courage

Ivor Gurney (1890-1937)

The Western Playland

Alan Leichtling

Eleven Songs from "A Shropshire Lad"

(Gerald) Graham Peel (1878-1937)

Songs of a Shropshire Lad

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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