"Ahoy, and ahoy!" 'Twixt mocking and merry -- "Ahoy and ahoy, there, Young man of the ferry!" She stood on the steps In the watery gloom --- That Changeling --"Ahoy, there!" She called him to come. He came on the green wave, He came on the grey, Where stooped that sweet lady That still summer's day. He fell in a dream Of her beautiful face, As she sat on the thwart And smiled in her place. No echo his oar woke, Float silent did they, Past low-grazing cattle In the sweet of the hay. And still in a dream At her beauty sat he, Drifting stern foremost Down -- down to the sea. Come you, then: call, When the twilight apace Brings shadow to brood On the loveliest face; You shall hear o'er the water Ring faint in the grey --- "Ahoy, and ahoy, there!" And tremble away; "Ahoy, and ahoy!..." And tremble away.
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Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "The Changeling", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 6. Witches and Fairies, no. 8, first published 1913 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "The Changeling", published 1951 [ mezzo-soprano solo (or semichorus), SSA chorus, string orchestra, and piano ], from In a Dream's Beguiling, suite [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-01-13
Line count: 34
Word count: 152