5 Songs from "The Cool Valley" by David Edgar Walther
to poems by James Joyce
to poems by James Joyce
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I. O cool is the valley now
And there, love, will we go For many a choir is singing now Where Love did sometime go. And hear you not the thrushes calling, Calling us away? O cool and pleasant is the valley And there, love, will we stay. |
II. My dove, my beautiful one,
Arise, arise! The night-dew lies Upon my lips and eyes. The odorous winds are weaving A music of sighs: Arise, arise, My dove, my beautiful one! |
I wait by the cedar tree,
My sister, my love, White breast of the dove, My breast shall be your bed. The pale dew lies Like a veil on my head. My fair one, my fair dove, Arise, arise! |
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III. Rain on Rahoon falls softly, softly falling,
Where my dark lover lies. Sad is his voice that calls me, sadly calling, At grey moonrise. Love, hear thou How soft, how sad his voice is ever calling, Ever unanswered, and the dark rain falling, Then as now. Dark too our hearts, O love, shall lie and cold As his sad heart has lain Under the moongrey nettles, the black mould And muttering rain. |
IV. I heard their young hearts crying
Loveward above the glancing oar And heard the prairie grasses sighing: No more, return no more! O hearts, O sighing grasses, Vainly your loveblown bannerets mourn! No more will the wild wind that passes Return, no more return. IV. O cool is the valley now And there, love, will we go For many a choir is singing now Where Love did sometime go. And hear you not the thrushes calling, Calling us away? O cool and pleasant is the valley And there, love, will we stay. |
The Cool Valley" is gender neutral 17 minute cycle of 13 songs, to poems by James Joyce. Here are 5 songs that I performed at Boston Public Library. The cycle (2023) chronicles a love affair that takes place at several locations in Ireland culminating in
a storm at Fontana Beach. The conclusion of the cycle is unclear, but somehow things have changed; was there a death or break up, perhaps love in the afterlife, or hope of new love? Either a happy or a sad interpretation is possible.Performers and listeners can decide for themselves. Please hear the 5 songs, and read the poems above:
a storm at Fontana Beach. The conclusion of the cycle is unclear, but somehow things have changed; was there a death or break up, perhaps love in the afterlife, or hope of new love? Either a happy or a sad interpretation is possible.Performers and listeners can decide for themselves. Please hear the 5 songs, and read the poems above: