1. |
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Two Songs
poetry by James Joyce
1. GENTLE LADY, DO NOT SING SAD SONGS
Gentle Lady, do not sing
Sad songs about the end of love;
Lay aside sadness and sing
How love that passes is enough.
Sing about the long deep sleep
Of lovers that are dead, and how
In the grave all love shall sleep:
Love is aweary now.
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2. |
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Two Songs
Poetry by James Joyce
2. LEAN OUT OF THE WINDOW, GOLDEN HAIR
Lean out of the window,
Goldenhair,
I hear you singing
A merry air.
My book was closed,
I read no more,
Watching the fire dance
On the floor.
I have left my book,
I have left my room,
For I heard you singing
Through the gloom.
Singing and singing
A merry air,
Lean out of the window,
Goldenhair.
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3. |
Far Beyond All Dreams
02:06
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Six Mediaeval Love Songs
Translations from the Latin lyrics by Helen Waddell
1. FAR BEYOND ALL DREAMS
By day mine eyes, by night my soul desires thee,
Weary, weary, I lie alone.
Once in a dream it seemed thou wert beside me;
O far beyond all dreams, if thou wouldst come.
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4. |
Young And Gold Haired
02:01
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Six Mediaeval Love Songs
Translations from the Latin lyrics by Helen Waddell
2. YOUNG AND GOLD HAIRED
Young and gold haired, fair of face, fair of face,
Thou gav’st me tender kisses in my sleep.
If waking I may never, never look upon thee.
O Sleep, I pray you, never let me wake!
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5. |
O Lovely Restless Eyes
01:43
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Six Mediaeval Love Songs
Translations from the Latin lyrics by Helen Waddell
3. O LOVELY RESTLESS EYES
O lovely restless eyes,
that speak in language’s despite!
For there sits Beauty, and the Little Loves,
and the Little Loves:
Between them dwells Delight.
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6. |
New Love (A Roundelay)
04:33
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Six Mediaeval Love Songs
Translations from the Latin lyrics by Helen Waddell
4. NEW LOVE (a Roundelay)
Philomel singing so sweet.
My heart burns to hear her repeat,
With the love of a maid aflower,
With the love of a maid afire,
New love, new love,
Dying, dying of desire.
Flower of all maidens, My Love,
Rose o’er all roses above.
With the love of a maid aflower, ...
Dying, dying of desire.
O nightingale, O nightingale,
Be still for an hour,
Till the heart sings, the heart sings,
With the love of a maid aflower, ...
Dying, dying of desire.
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7. |
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Six Mediaeval Love Songs
Translations from the Latin lyrics by Helen Waddell
5. SOFTLY THE WEST WIND BLOWS
Softly the west wind blows;
Gaily the warm sun goes,
The earth her bosom sheweth,
And with all sweetness floweth,
Do thou, O Spring most fair,
Squander thy care,
On flower, leaf and grain,
And leave me alone with pain.
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8. |
O Lovely Venus
02:35
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Six Mediaeval Love Songs
Translations from the Latin lyrics by Helen Waddell
6. O LOVELY VENUS
Lovely Venus,
What’s to do? What’s to do?
If the loved loves not again?
Lovely Venus,
Beauty passes, youth’s undone,
violets wither, ‘spite of dew,
Roses shrivel in the sun,
Lilies all their whiteness stain.
O lovely lady, take these home to you
And who loves thee, love again.
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9. |
Delos
02:42
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Two Idylls From Greece
Poems by Joseph Braddock
1. DELOS
Leto took Zeus’ faithless kiss
Apollo walked with Artemis
This is where the world began
With the assurance of a womb
Where is now that holy town
On the bare island brown?
Down from Mount Cynthos, all around
Broken Marble bleeds upon the ground
By the dark gecko, the spent thistle
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10. |
So Went My Love
02:57
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Two Idylls From Greece
Poems by Joseph Braddock
2. GREEK FOLK SONG
Goats to raise, goats to graze
Drawing of water, daily the milking
The endless olives to pick
So went my love
With her head kerchiefed, in thick clothes
Working all day, too busy to smile
But at night when the sun went down
She was not busy
There was an olive on her brown arm
And her breasts were like honey
And her thighs were lithe in love as fishes
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20. |
The Lonely Land
04:15
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Northern Landscapes
Poems from The Classic Shade, by A.J.M. Smith
1. THE LONELY LAND
Cedar and jagged fir
uplift sharp barbs
against the gray
and cloud-piled sky;
and in the bay
blown spume and windrift
and thin, bitter spray
snap at the whirling sky;
and the pine trees
lean one way.
A wild duck calls to her mate,
and the ragged
and passionate tones
stagger and fall,
and recover,
and stagger and fall,
on these stones -
are lost in the lapping of water
on smooth, flat stones.
This is the beauty
of dissonance,
this resonance
of stony strand,
this smoky cry
curled over a black pine
like a broken
and wind-battered branch
when the wind
bends the tops of the pines
and curdles the sky
from the north.
This is the beauty
of strength
broken by strength
and still strong.
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21. |
Swift Current
00:55
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Northern Landscapes
Poems from The Classic Shade, by A.J.M. Smith
2. SWIFT CURRENT
This is a visible
and crystal wind:
no ragged edge,
no splash of foam,
no whirlpool’s scare;
only in the narrows,
sharpness cutting sharpness,
arrows of direction.
spears of speed.
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22. |
Sea Cliff
02:28
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Northern Landscapes
Poems from The Classic Shade, by A.J.M. Smith
3. SEA CLIFF
Wave on wave
and green on rock
and white between
the splash and black
the crash and hiss
of the feathery fall
the snap and shock
of the water wall
and the wall of rock.
After- after the ebb-flow,
wet rock, high-
high over the slapping green,
water sliding away
and the rock abiding,
new rock riding out of the
spray.
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23. |
Willows
05:52
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Green Jade
Poems from Sunflower Splendor by,
Wu-chi Liu & Irving Lo
1. WILLOWS
In curve after curve the balustrade caresses
jade-green trees,
Willows in the light breeze
Break out all their golden strands.
Someone takes up an inlaid lute, tuning it with
pegs of jade;
A pair of swallows flies away in alarm through
the screens.
As far as eyes can see, floating gossamer and
falling willow-down;
As the pink almond-flower clusters open,
For a moment, a light Ch'ing-ming rain.
She awakens from deep slumber to orioles'
flurried chatter,
Startled from the last of a happy dream that
cannot be found again.
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24. |
Lantern Festival
02:58
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Green Jade
Poems from Sunflower Splendor by,
Wu-chi Liu & Irving Lo
2. LANTERN FESTIVAL
One night's east wind made a thousand trees
burst into flower;
And breathe down still more
Showers of fallen stars.
Splendid horses, carved carriages, fragrance
filled the road.
Music resounded from paired flutes,
Light swirled on water-clock towers.
All night long, the fabled fish-dragons danced.
Gold-threaded jacket, moth- or willow- shaped
hair ornaments
Melted into the throng, giggling, a trail of scents.
In the crowd I looked for her a thousand and one times;
And all at once, as I turned my head,
I was startled to find her
Among the Lanterns where candles were
growing dim.
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25. |
Plum Blossoms
05:57
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Green Jade
Poems from Sunflower Splendor by,
Wu-chi Liu & Irving Lo
3. PLUM BLOSSOMS
On a branch covered with jade-green moss-
A pair of tiny birds of kingfisher blue
Roost side by side.
Myself a stranger, I encounter her
By the fence at dusk,
Leaning without a word on a tall bamboo.
Chao-chün: unused to distant Tartar sounds,
Secretly longs for the land south and north of the river.
I think of her, pendants clinging, returning
under the moon,
Turned into this blossom all alone.
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26. |
Separation
01:34
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SEPARATION
Poem from the 10th Century Chinese
Scissors can not cut this thing,
unraveled it joins and reigns.
It is the sorrow of separation
And none other tastes to the heart like this...
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Ludwig Recordings Delta, British Columbia
Ludwig Recordings is a Record Label specializing in the music of composer Christopher Ludwig and its artists.
Ludwig Recordings has an especially strong focus on Art Song.
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