A RIVER ©1998 Tania Opland
If I were a stone in a desert where the rain never fell, |
COME ALL YOU FAIR AND TENDER LADIES Top
of page
Come all you fair and tender ladies,
take warning how you court your man -
They're like the stars on a summer's morning; first they appear
and then they're gone.
They'll tell to you some loving
story; they'll swear to you that their love is true,
Then straightaway they'll go and they'll court another, and that's
the love that they have for you.
If I had known before I courted
what all his lying could have done
I'd have locked my heart in a box of golden and never would have
courted none.
I wish I was a tiny sparrow, and
I had wings and I could fly.
I'd fly away to my false true lover, and all he'd ask I would
deny.
But I am not a tiny sparrow, and
I've no wings and I can't fly,
So I'll sit right here in my grief and sorrow and let my troubles
pass me by.
JULIAN OF NORWICH Top
of page
by Sydney Carter, ©1981 Stainer & Bell, ltd.
Admin. in USA by Hope
Publishing, Carol Stream IL 60188 (ASCAP). Used by permission.
All rights reserved.
Loud are the bells of Norwich and
the people come and go
Here by the Tower of Julian I tell them what I know.
Ring out! Bells of Norwich, and
let the winter come and go.
All shall be well again, I know.
Ring for the yellow daffodil, the
flower in the snow.
Ring for the yellow daffodil, and tell them what I know.
Love, like the yellow daffodil,
is coming through the snow.
Love, like the yellow daffodil, is lord of all I know.
JOVANO JOVANKE Top
of page
Jovano, Jovanke
Krai vardara sedish, more, belo platno belish,
Belo platno belish, dushe, se ne gorai, glaidash
Jovano, dear Jovano - sitting on the bank of the Vardara River,
washing clothes...
Jovano, Jovanke
Ja ste tebye chekam, moré, doma da mi doidesh,
A te ne dovaidesh, dushe, serdtse moyo, Jovano
Jovano, dear Jovano - I wait for you but you do not come, my
love...
Jovano, Jovanke
Tvoyata maika, more tebye ne te pushta
Sto mene da doidesh dushe, serdtse moyo, Jovano
Jovano, dear Jovano - your mother doesn't permit me to see
you...
BORDERLANDS Top
of page
© by Danny
Carnahan
Used by permission; all rights reserved.
The young man sat above the town
in the glow of the setting sun
With his head held cradled in his hands, his back against a stone
Saying "Why have I so little time in this wretched place
to stand
When I can't take the girl I love back home to the Borderland,
oh?
For I watch her dance upon the hill
and I live but for her song
And she never dreamed I waited here so silent and so long
But her golden hair to strike me down and her brown eyes strike
me blind
And the thought I'll ne'er see her again is torturing my mind,
oh"
The maid walked down the hill nearby
toward home and the end of day
And she caught the sound of the young man's words and stopped
along her way
No voice had she ever heard as sweet as the voice of the stranger
lad
And she stood there as if turned to stone and listened from the
shadow
But the young man's words reached
out to her where she stood upon the lea
And they built her ships upon the clouds and castles on the sea
And as he spoke her eyes did flash and burn as with a flame
And the maid stepped out around the stone as if he'd called her
name, oh
"Pray lament no more,"
she said, her voice like a gentle sea,
"For I have heard your every word and I know them meant for
me,
And if you speak in truth my lad and you love me as you say
There can be no reason we must part, not even for a day, oh"
The young man started at her words
and he stood up straight and tall,
Said, "I never meant for you to hear me speak this way at
all,
For you can never have me love, it's useless to deceive
For I mut return to the Borderlands, I am bound to leave you."
"I care not where you're bound,
my lad, I care not where you're from,
For the one thing that I'm certain, 'tis this maiden's heart you've
won.
So take me with you where you must, I freely go your way,
And I will lie here in your arms to greet the light of day, oh."
Tenderly he laid he down and next
to her did lie.
The wind that whispered through the trees was sweet as a lullabye.
Bending low, he folded her into his soft embrace.
With a touch he sent her fast asleep with a smile upon her face,
oh.
"Sleep content, my love, he
said, I cannot cause you pain,
But the dawn will find me far away and I won't be back again
And though I'd take you if I could, I am not what I seem
So forget we ever tarried here and wake as from dream.
"For I am not of your world,
my love, I come from another time
And I crossed here from the Borderlands between your world and
mine.
'Twas there that I first heard your voice and longed for your
face to see
And I gathered all the powers I had and stepped out on your lee,
oh
"And you know I watched you
quietly as you danced upon the hill
Though I dared not call to you, I loved you stronger still
But no longer do I have the power, no longer can I stay
And I'll be pulled back into my time by the dawning of the day,
oh
"But I will be your pillow
where e'er your head will lie.
I'll be the star you can only catch in the corner of your eye.
I'll be the sound of laughter in the first low flower of dawn.
I'll be the touch to brush your cheek and wake you in the morning..."
Saying this, he bended down and
he kissed her once goodbye.
As the dawn broke on the hill, he vanished like a sigh,
And the maid, she opened up her eyes and smiled up through the
trees
For as she listened she could almost hear his voice upon the breeze,
oh.
"I know you hear me love,"
she whispered from her grassy bed,
"For I felt your touch, I felt your kiss and I heard the
words you said.
And the next time that our worlds combine cannot be very far
And I'll be waiting then to take your hand and dance among the
stars, oh."
KATYUSHA Top of page
Music: M. Blanter; Lyrics: M Isakovsky, 1938 (public domain)
Расцветали яблони и груши, Поплили тумани над рекои. Выходила на берег Катюша; На высокий берег, на крутой. Выходила, песьню заводила Про степпного серого орла, Про того которого любила, Про того чьи письма берегла. Ой, ты песьня, песенка девича, Ты лети за ясьным сольнцем вслед; И бойцу на далнем пограничи От Катюши передай привет. Пусть он вспомнит девушку простую И услишит как она поёт; Пусть он землю бережёт родную, А любовь Катюша сбережёт. |
Rasstvetali yabloni i
grushi, Poplili tumani nad rekoi Vuikhodila na bereg Katyusha Na vuisoki bereg, na krutoi Vuikhodila, pyesnyu zavodila Pro styeppnovo syerevo orla Pro tovo kotorova lyubila Pro tovo chi pisma byeregla. Oi, ti pyesnya, pyesyenka dyevicha, Ti lyeti za yasnim solntsyem vslyed I boitsu na dalnyen pogranichi Ot Katyushi pyeredai privyet Poost on vspomnit dyevushku prostuyu I uslishit kak ona poyot. Poost on zyemlyu byerezhot rodnuyu A lyubov Katyusha sbyerezhot. |
Apple and pear trees
were in bloom The mist crept over the river On the bank walked Katyusha, On the steep, high bank. She walked and sang a song Of a grey Stepp eagle, Of the one she loved, Of the one whose letters she kept Oh song, dear little song Fly into the bright sun And to the soldier on the far frontier Give greetings from Katyusha. May he remember a simple young woman, And hear how she sings May he protect the native land As Katyusha protects [their] love. |
Johnny's gone a-sailing with trouble
on his mind
For the leaving of his country and his darling girl behind.
Dora lee a laddie, dora lee my lilly oh.
She has gone to tailor's shop, dressed
in men's array,
Signed on board a man-o-war, conveyed herself away
"Before you step onboard, sir,
your name I'd like to know."
With a smile upon her countenance she answered, "Jack Monroe!"
"Your waist it is too slender,
your fingers are too small
And your cheeks to red and rosy to face the cannon ball."
"I know my waist is slender,
my fingers they are small,
But I'll never faint nor falter, though thousands 'round me fall!"
The drums did loudly rattle, sweet
music they did play,
And unto the field of battle they soon did sail away.
When the war had ended, in a circle
she marched round
And among the dead and dying, her darling boy she found.
BOUND AWAY Top
of page
© 1996 Susan Welch
Used by permission; all rights reserved.
I hear voices 'cross the water.
I can't tell what words they say,
But I can hear their frequent laughter, and my soul is bound away.
My demise will hold no power; its
grip grows weaker day by day
My skin may feel its touch forever, but my soul is bound away
I will shed these gloves of hatred
- bury them deep in the clay
And though my hands may dig forever, my soul is bound away
I won't need a boat to ferry; I
won't need a bridge to span;
I won't need to swim that water. I will go just as I am.