Whittier’s April (William A. Lafferty)

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• (Posted 2023-11-06)  CPDL #77025:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-11-06).   Score information: Letter, 8 pages, 400 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: Whittier’s April
Composer: William A. Lafferty
Lyricist: John Greenleaf Whittier
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1883 John Church & Co.
Description: 

Original text and translations

English text

’Tis the noon of the springtime, yet never a bird
In the wind-shaken elm or maple heard;
See the dead meadow grasses, and levels of snow,
And white drifts where the crocus should blow;
O’er the cold winter beds of their late waking roots
White-flake eddies, the ice crystal shoots;
And the longing for light, under wind driven heaps,
Round the pinewood the ground-laurel creeps.

Yes, we wait, O, yes we wait for thy coming, sweet wind of the south!
For the touch, O, for the touch of thy light wings, the kiss of thy mouth.

Yet we wait for thy coming, sweet wind of the south!
For the gentle and warm kiss of thy mouth;
For the yearly evangel thou hearest from God,
Resurrection and life to the sod!
O thou soul of the springtime, its light and its breath,
Bringing warmth to the cold gloom of death;
And the life of the springtime, the life of the whole,
Like the light of bright love to the soul.

Yes, we wait, O, yes we wait for thy coming, sweet wind of the south!
For the touch, O, for the touch of thy light wings, the kiss of thy mouth.

Adapted from John Greenleaf Whittier