Her Whole Life is an Epigram
William Blake
(1757-1827)
Her whole life is an epigram, smack smooth and neatly penned,
Plaited quite neat to catch applause, with a sliding noose at the end.
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Selected Poetry from the Song Set
Sweet Blake
(for Solo Voice and Piano)
Available for performance. See "Works Available" page for further set details.
The Sick Rose
(from Songs of Experience)
William Blake
(1757-1827)
O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
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Poetry from the Composition
Echo
(for SATB Choir)
Available for performance. See "Works Available" page for further song details.
Christina Rossetti
(1830-1894)
Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.
O dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;
Where thirsting longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more.
Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again though cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago.
