Rest (Ralph Vaughan Williams)

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CPDL #23367:    Finale 2007

Editor: Corey Axler^{create page} (submitted 2011-04-13).   Score information: Letter, 5 pages, 94 kB   Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: Rest
Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Lyricist: Christina Rossetti

Number of voices: 5vv   Voicing: SSATB

Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

Published: 1902

Description:

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Original text and translations

English text

O Earth, lie heavily upon her eyes;
Seal her sweet eyes weary of watching, Earth;
Lie close around her; leave no room for mirth
With its harsh laughter, nor for sound of sighs.
She hath no questions, she hath no replies,
Hushed in and curtained with a blessed dearth
Of all that irked her from the hour of birth;
With stillness that is almost Paradise.
Darkness more clear than noon-day holdeth her,
Silence more musical than any song;
Even her very heart has ceased to stir:
Until the morning of Eternity
Her rest shall not begin nor end, but be;
And when she wakes she will not think it long.

Goblin Market and Other Poems (1865)