by John Clare (1793 - 1864)
Evening bells
Language: English
Sweet the merry bells ring round On even zephyrs dying swells The sweetest chord the harp can sound Sounds not so sweet as evening bells O merry chiming bells Swinging falls and melting rise On viewless echo how it swells Tis but the music of the skies Can breath so sweet as evening bells O merry chiming bells Faint and fainter how they fall Humming through the lonely dells No sounds to charm this earthly ball Can charm so sweet as evening bells O merry chiming bells Zephyrs breathing once again Once again the zephyr swells Still I lie upon the plain Entranc’d to hear the evening bells O merry chiming bells While the runnel curdles clear Once again the zephyr swells Sweeter still the strains appear O evening bells o evening bells How sweet is evening bells
Authorship:
- by John Clare (1793 - 1864) [author's text not yet checked 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 Ian Venables (b. 1955), "Evening bells", op. 31 no. 3 (1997) [ tenor and string quartet ], from Invite to Eternity, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2023-01-24
Line count: 25
Word count: 138