Let the florid music praise, The flute and the trumpet, Beauty's conquest of your face: In that land of flesh and bone, Where from citadels on high Her imperial standards fly, Let the hot sun Shine on, shine on. O but the unlov'd have had power, The weeping and striking, Always; time will bring their hour: Their secretive children walk Through your vigilance of breath To unpardonable death, And my vows break Before his look.
On This Island
Song Cycle by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976)
1. Let the florid music praise!  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), "Song", appears in Look, Stranger!, first published 1936, revised 1966
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Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight2. Now the leaves are falling fast  [sung text checked 1 time]
Now the leaves are falling fast, Nurse's flowers will not last; Nurses to the graves are gone, And the prams go rolling on. Whisp'ring neighbours, left and right, Pluck us from the real delight; And the active hands must freeze Lonely on the sep'rate knees. Dead in hundreds at the back Follow wooden in our track, Arms raised stiffly to reprove In false attitudes of love. Starving through the leafless wood Trolls run scolding for their food; And the nightingale is dumb, And the angel will not come. Cold, impossible, ahead Lifts the mountain's lovely head Whose white waterfall could bless Travellers in their last distress.
Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973)
See other settings of this text.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight3. Seascape  [sung text checked 1 time]
Look, stranger, at this island now The leaping light for your delight discovers, Stand stable here And silent be, That through the channels of the ear May wander like a river The swaying sound of the sea. Here at the small field's ending pause Where the chalk wall falls to the foam, and its tall ledges Oppose the pluck And knock of the tide, And the shingle scrambles after the suck- ing surf, and the gull lodges A moment on its sheer side. Far off like floating seeds the ships Diverge on urgent voluntary errands; And the full view Indeed may enter And move in memory as now these clouds do, That pass the harbour mirror And all the summer through the water saunter.
Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), "Seaside", appears in Look, Stranger!
See other settings of this text.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
First published in Listener, December 1935. Revised 1936, 1958, and 1966Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight
4. Nocturne  [sung text checked 1 time]
Now through night's caressing grip Earth and all her ocans slip, Capes of China slide away From her fingers into day And th'Americas incline Coasts towards her shadow line. Now the ragged vagrants creep Into crooked holes to sleep: Just and unjust, worst and best, Change their places as they rest: Awkward lovers like in fields Where disdainful beauty yields: While the splendid and the proud Naked stand before the crowd And the losing gambler gains And the beggar entertains: May sleep's healing power extend Through these hours to our friend. Unpursued by hostile force, Traction engine, bull or horse Or revolting succubus; Calmly till the morning break Let him lie, then gently wake.
Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), no title, appears in The Dog Beneath the Skin, first published 1935
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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight5. As it is, plenty  [sung text checked 1 time]
As it is, plenty; As it's admitted The children happy And the car, the car That goes so far And the wife devoted: To this as it is, To the work and the banks Let his thinning hair And his hauteur Give thanks, give thanks. All that was thought As like as not, is not When nothing was enough But love, but love And the rough future Of an intransigent nature And the betraying smile, Betraying, but a smile: That that is not, is not; Forget, Forget. Let him not cease to praise Then his spacious days; Yes, and the success Let him bless, let him bless: Let him see in this The profits larger And the sins venal, Lest he see as it is The loss as major And final, final.
Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), appears in Look, Stranger!, first published 1936
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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight